


Knight Queen Maiden

by e_frye



Series: Landlubber's Guide to Sailing [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Arthurian legend - Freeform, Multi, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-12
Updated: 2015-08-31
Packaged: 2018-03-30 04:12:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 133,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3922444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/e_frye/pseuds/e_frye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Remember when our biggest problem was the Wicked Witch of the West, or an Ice Wall....Do you ever wish our lives would go back to that?”</p><p>“Be careful what you wish for love.”</p><p>Nearly four years after the events of 'The Long Haul', Storybrooke is once again about to be rocked by unexpected visitors. But this time nothing is as it seems.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Wish

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sequel to my other work The Long Haul. Reading it first would probably help you understand the canon divergent (after 4x12) world in this story.

It is often said that in this world there exist doorways to other lands. These subjects of fantasy and fiction are hidden in plain sight; taking all manner of shapes and forms as they lead to lands where animals talk and magic prevails. They are wishes in the minds of children. The rabbit holes, train platforms, and enchanted wardrobes of youthful imagination. Children yearn to discover them for themselves but as children turn into adults they often find themselves no longer believing in these concealed doorways to the lands of dreams.

But that is a shame, because they do exist.

In the north eastern corner of a country named America there exists such a doorway in the state of Maine. It was created nearly thirty five years ago, when a vengeful queen banished an entire kingdom to a world without magic. But this doorway is flawed. If were a real door you say that perhaps it was missing a handle, or that the door was simply too large for the frame. It only been opened on such rare occasion and by great magical forces that it has been forgotten as a viable means of transport. Those who have stumbled or pushed through it had come to accept the world around them as the reality which they now lived in.

The town of Storybrooke, Maine was created by magic but the number of people who knew the truth about their town was slowly being eclipsed by those who did not. For decades it had been a town trapped within its own bubble. During that time it and its residents had been cursed, frozen in time, unable to reach the outside world by a variety of ways. But then it changed, memories were restored, families were reunited and happy endings were once again discovered. And eventually Storybrooke became a real town connected to the world around it.

Those who had lived through it all held only memories. An even small number of residents still retained their abilities of magic. It had been years since anyone from anywhere else had stopped over and caused havoc in the town via magical means.

But doorway to another world was about to be opened once more.

**

“Oh do you really think that’s funny Caroline?” Emma yelled as she began to lunge after her daughter.  Caroline was nearly four years old now, her long brown hair trailing behind her as she ran around the living room chasing after her almost two year old sister Addison.

Emma Swan looked at her daughters laughing and giggling as her elder son struggled in dragging the large suitcase behind him. For over three years her life had been filed with peace, caused by the pleasant lack of interruptions and invasions from story book villains. Not to say that her life had been boring in all that time. She had children to raise, a town to manage, the strange idiosyncrasies of her family to deal with. But all that seemed like nothing after some of the trouble she had gone through in her late twenties.

Caroline and Addison were chasing after one another, the two girls babbling to themselves as Henry looked around at them, adjusting the backpack over his shoulder. “Mom it’s…” A car horn honked outside.  “They’re here.” He replied with a small smile.

Emma nodded as she looked at her son. He would be sixteen in a few short weeks, though it seemed as if he had been a teenager for longer. He was different now than when she had first met him, his face covered with traces of acne, his clothes decidedly more rebellious than what he had once worn. He was beginning to decide who he was for himself, even though he had done much of that in the years before. Emma knew that in the next few years he would go through many more phases before he decided on the kind of adult he would be.

“Okay girls, it’s time to say goodbye to Henry.” Emma said as she corralled her daughters to the front door. Regina and Robin were waiting the driveway, the trunk of their car already opened as Henry placed his suitcase in and stood outside of the car, looking at his mother with a small smile.

He would be spending the last three weeks of summer on a class trip to Europe. A frantically packed three weeks in which they would be visiting a different city every two days, always on the move and never stopping as they attempted to see half of a continent. It seemed like nothing which appealed to Emma, but to Henry the freedom of spending three weeks in foreign countries away from his parents was what he had been looking for all summer long.

“Okay.” Emma breathed as she hugged her son. She knew that he would only been gone for a few weeks, but it was the knowledgeable that this was preparing her for more, for the reality of college in another two years which was running through her mind. “Text me when the plane it taking off, and then again when you land in London.”

He almost had to look down to meet her eye, he was nearly taller than her and still growing. “Don’t worry I will Mom.” He turned and looked at his little sisters who were both dancing around his legs. He bent down and looked them both in the eye. “What do you want me to bring you back from my trip?” He asked them.

Caroline beamed as she tugged on his hand. “I wanna tower?”

He chuckled. “Like the Eiffel Tower in Paris?” He had been showing her pictures of all the places he would visit, she gave him a small nod. “And what do you want Addy. A toy, a doll.”

“Doll.” She called out.

Caroline looked up at him with a strange grin upon her face. “Addy wants a puppy.” She laughed.

“What about Lady?” Henry balked

“She’s not a puppy.” Caroline said with a small shake of her head.

“She was,” Henry replied “You just don’t remember because you were a baby when Lady was little.”

“But I’m not the baby anymore.” She said shaking her head as she played the game with her tongue between her teeth.

“No you’re not.” Emma whispered as she moved to hug Henry once more. She didn’t want him to leave, but she knew that he needed to. For all their sakes they needed to get used to life without Henry always being around.

He nodded his head at her in silent understanding “Are you sure you’ll be okay without me?”

Killian snickered appearing half out of nowhere as always. “Thanks for the confidence in the parenting skills there Henry.” He said as he swooped down to pick up Addison who was clinging to his leg.

“Try and find a princess when you are over there, someone with a nice castle.” Emma teased. “You know for the sake of your sisters.”

“Mom.” Henry grunted

Emma laughed. “I didn’t set the greatest example okay.” She said gesturing at Killian. But it wasn’t entirely true, she may have married a man who was once a pirate but he had very much shed that image in the past three and a half years. “Okay you need to go or you won’t make it Logan Airport with an hour to spare like Regina likes.”

“Mom.” He said in a small annoyed voice.

“Have fun, don’t forget to call and send some pictures for everyone.” Killian said as he hugged him. Henry turned his back to them, getting into the back seat of the car. He seemed large compared to Roland and Charlie in their car seats. He waved as the car pulled out of the driveway and out of sight.

The Swan family stood in the driveway a bit longer than was needed, looking at the empty patch from which Henry had just departed. Emma and Killian’s lives were so different from how it had once been, and Henry was one of the few who really knew. Henry remembered how this town had once been, how they had faced spells and curses one after another. It was something he would never forget, even if he never had to face another spell in his entire life, he would never forget the years in which the citizens of Storybrooke had all been heroes.

Now the town was different, now it was filled with people who had lived normal lives before moving here. It was filled with accountants, and school teachers, with teenagers and elderly couples. They still were there, few of the original inhabitants a few had moved away past the boundary of the town. However the lives they had once lead, the names which they had been called and the titles of royalty were long hidden.

Emma walked back into her house, her children scattering off to their rooms, only affording her a moment of silence before the sounds of “MOMMY.” Rang out through the house. She turned and looked at her husband, at Killian, the man once known as Captain Hook who she had agreed to spend the rest of her life with.

**

There was a buzzing in the air, a humming growing louder and louder untill the air itself seemed to explode and the young woman came running into the forest. A Maiden in a rough spun green dress spun around, her long red cloak swinging behind her as her round face beamed with happiness. She was a scholar, a magician, a young girl of four and twenty with short blonde curls and eyes as brown as the soft earth bellow her feet beaming behind her frames of her red glasses.

“We did it.” She breathed joyfully as she turned looking up at the skies above and breathing in the familiar air once more. The magical energy buzzed around her once more and she swirled to see the figure behind her.

The Knight was tall and imposing, with armor made of black and white enameled plates and stained with green streaks of grass and red flecks of blood. They too wore the same red cloak as the maiden, a large gold lion showing the house to which they had placed allegiance to years ago in the wars which had plagued their realm. They placed their sword in its scabbard and reached up to remove a dented helmet to reveal the face of a woman who had lived over thirty years. Her brown hair was matted from sweat and fizzed from the heat inside the helmet and she looked at the world around them with a less enthusiasm than the younger woman had.

“We did it.” The Maiden repeated a smile plastered on her face as she breathed in the forest around them, but the Knight did not seem as pleased with their accomplishment. She turned looking back looking at the doorway only the two of them could see.

“Don’t.” The Knight whispered like a plea as the portal crackled once more. “Don’t…you have to go back.” She implored as a third and final figure emerged.

The strange iron crown upon her head marked her as a queen, her long black hair falling down in waves around her shoulders and onto the heavy grey cloak that she wore over the tunic and leggings. She stepped forward past the two other women to look out at the forest and sea beyond.

The Queen stood tall surveying the land as her cloak billowed behind her. Three black waves trimmed the bottom with five lone signals of a rook, a sun, a fish, a bear and a tree marked the history of those who had carried the title of her throne before. But largest upon the grey cloak was that of the white bird in flight.

She turned looking back at the other women, the inside of her cloak was a tapestry filled with symbols and history of her own family. Finely woven into the cloth there were anchors, birds, trees, roses, clocks, hearts, swords, dragons, demons, witches, and the long history of the family she was a part of. The Knight and the Maiden had the very same tapestry lining their crimson cloaks as well.

“You have to go back Addy.” The Knight called out in desperation.

The Queen shook her head. “We have to do this together Caroline. Henry said so.”

Caroline protested. “You’re the Queen, you need to rule. You need to be there to…”

“Neal can rule in my place.” Addison began. “He may not like it but he will. And Olivia will be there to actually keep everything in line. Henry said that all three of us had to do this together. Do you remember what we promised one another when all this began years ago?” The Queen asked the other two sisters.

The youngest one rolled her eyes. "That there would be no Game of Thrones or King Lear type situations." She retorted sarcastically.

“Lucy.” Addison chided while trying not to laugh. “That we would help, we would do our job to be a part of this story.”

Caroline shook her head as she took her sisters place standing on the ridge looking down at the town in which they had been raised. "Something is not right." Her sisters moved to join her on the ridge looking down at the town. Caroline turned and looked back at the doorway though which they had come. “That doorway has never worked properly.” She muttered.

“What are you talking about?” Lucy asked.

Addison saw it, her heart falling. “Look at the harbor.” She said in disappointment as she took a step back.

Caroline turned after her beginning to remove her armor angrily and with difficulty until Addy began to help her. “I don’t….” Lucy stammered as she looked at the coastline she was so familiar with. “Where is the lighthouse?”

Caroline gave a sharp grunt as she tugged off her cloak and began to angrily fold it. “It hasn’t been built yet.” Lucy looked at her still unclear about what was happening. “We went back in time.” She said begrudgingly.

“What?” Lucy screamed her chest rising rapidly as the birds all around them gave a hoot as her voice echoed through the woods.

“Say it a little louder Luce I don’t know if the whole town heard you.” Caroline snapped as she removed the final bits of her armor and placed them on the ground with a resounding clink. “We all need to change and we are all going to need different names.” She closed her eyes, her finger tips dripping with magic as she transformed her clothes into a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt.

Addison was begrudgingly doing the same, carefully folding her large cloak and placing it next to her older sister, and allowing Caroline to change her clothes for her as well. But Lucy was still shaking her head. “Why…what… I don’t”

“Lucy we don’t know what we are going to find in Storybrooke. This could be a time before Mom ever even came to town. Henry said we need to go back, that we need to get something to help stop Mordred for good and bring the kingdoms together, but I don’t know if this is what he meant or not.”

“Then why don’t we go back and ask him?” Lucy said pointing to the doorway behind them.

Addy shook her head. “He only gave us the spell to get here, he expected that we would take the normal way back. But clearly that way doesn’t exist yet. We have a job to do and we all have to take part in this.”

Lucy sighed but she nodded too, taking off her clothes and conjuring herself a new pair. “Crown, Addy.” She muttered.

Addison reached up and lifted the iron crown off her head. For over ten years she had been the ruler of the Enchanted Forest under the new united kingdoms which King Arthur had championed. But it wasn’t the only thing that she had ruled over. She had listened to the stories when she was little, she knew that her peculiar parantage also offered her the title of the Queen of the Seas, and she had taken up that mantle as well. The crown she wore show cased these dual titles which she was bestowed with, a winding base of forged rope and vines, supporting the spindly trees and anchors which danced around her head. She placed it upon her cloak and looked to her sister.

Caroline was pointing at the necklace which Addison wore around her neck. “I’m not taking that off, are you?” She said stubbornly grasping at the two black waves upon a golden banner. She gestured at the dark ring of a singular cresting wave which Caroline wore on her thumb.

Caroline shook her head. “Keep it then, but your explaining it if anyone asks.” Caroline waved her hands and large boulder appeared over where they had placed their belongings. She turned and faced her sisters. A frown forming on her face. “We need to look different.” She said in a tiny voice.

“Like a different face?” Lucy asked her heart sinking as she watched her older sister nod. “Fine.” She said, holding her face in her hands and breathing deeply. Her short blonde curls grew to shoulder length turning to a deep chestnut brown, and when she looked up at them her eyes were different, not the warm brown they had once been but an indiscriminate hazel.

Caroline nodded, taking her lead doing the same and making her hair lighter and shorter, her own eyes the same hazel that Lucy had chosen. They she turned to look at Addison, she was the only sibling without magic. “Can I be a redhead?” Addison said with a small laugh.

Caroline nodded, as she tossed the magic towards her sister lightly, transforming her long black hair into a short red bob, her electric blue eyes becoming green. “Now we’re ready to go home.” She whispered.

It was strange to walk along the streets of Storybrooke and see how much things had changed from when they had known them. Shops were different, the cars were different, and the people were different. Traveling back in time was jarring, and it made them realize how much the town would change in decades. But the dinner was still the same and three sisters walked towards what had been the familiar beacon grateful to see something that had not changed.

“Have a seat I’ll be with you in a minute.” Came the hurried voice of Ruby as the door jingled closed behind them. Caroline grabbed a newspaper from the stand by the door as they walked towards a booth along one of the back walls.

The sisters sat down at the table, as the eldest opened up the newspaper and looked at the date. Sunday August 6th 2017\. “I’m not even born yet.” Lucy muttered under her breath as she reached into the pockets of her jeans and pulled out her smartphone from twenty five years in the future. Out of all of them, Lucy was the one who had chosen to stay in the realm of Storybrooke.

“Does it work?” Addison muttered.

Lucy shook her head, pocketing it as Ruby came back. “Welcome to Granny’s dinner my name is Ruby can I get you all started with some coffee?”

“That would be great.” Caroline said as she flipped through the newspaper, waiting till Ruby walked away. “At least nobody is going to recognize us. We need to find somewhere to live.”

“What about the bed and breakfast?” Addy suggested.

“It’s the summer it will be booked. Besides we don’t know how long we will be here.” Caroline replied.

Ruby came back with three cups of coffee, and took the girls orders. It was surprisingly empty for a Sunday morning in the summer. “Are you girls visiting town for the weekend?”

They looked at one another with wide eyes. “Uh we were actually considering moving here. What’s the town like?” Addy asked her.

Ruby let out a small laugh, and they all knew what she was inferring to in her own thoughts. Caroline had been fourteen when they all learned who many of the residents of Storybrooke had once been. “Most of the time it is pretty quiet. It’s a great place to live though, the community here is wonderful. We’ve really built this town together.” She said smiling to herself. “What are your names?”

“Mia.” Addy blurted out the name coming to her. “I’m Mia Smith and these are my sisters…”

“Natalie.” Caroline said with a smile.

“Darcy.” Lucy added.

“Well it’s nice to meet you girls.” Ruby said with a smile. “You won’t find any apartment listing in the paper though. But I think the building over on 9th Street has some openings. I’ll go put your order in.” and she hurried away.

Addison leaned forward and looked at Lucy with a raised brow. “Darcy? Could you think of a weirder name?”

“You couldn’t think of a more interesting last name than Smith? Everyone uses Smith for fake names.” Lucy hissed at her.

Caroline shook her head at the two of them as she raised her coffee mug to her lips, her elbow suddenly falling into Addison as she saw who had just come in through the back door.

“Hana come on you have to trust me.” Tiger Lily was saying her voice raised “Nothing is going to happen.” She wined.

“Lily.” The woman once known as Pocahontas hissed as she sat down at the counter running her hands though her hair clearly fed up with her ‘little sister’.

“This is going to be more entertaining that I thought.” Caroline muttered gleefully into her coffee mug.

Addison rolled her eyes as Lily and Hana began to fight loudly. “Lily you are asking to go away for three weeks to a completely foreign counties. You are not sharing a room with your boyfriend.”

“It is a school trip.” Lily hissed.

“You’re sixteen.”

Lily huffed. “You wouldn’t be saying this if Henry was still my boyfriend.”

“Yes I would.” Hana shouted her hands throwing up into the air. “All of Henrys parents would be saying it too, your sharing a room with Makena like you signed up to do six months ago and I you don’t I will come over there and personally get you.”

Lily stood up from her bar stool and grabbed her purse slinging it over her shoulder. “I hate you.” She spat in Hana’s face.

“Welcome to growing up.” Hana said to her back. Lily turned around and flipped her off. “I could arrest you for that.” Hana yelled after her as the door of the dinner slammed behind her.

Caroline was sitting back in her booth giggling to herself. Addison rolled her eyes at her. “You know for being the oldest you really are the least mature.”

“I’m technically not the oldest.” Caroline replied though her giggles.

“You are the least mature though.” Lucy sighed. “And from what I remember your teen years were just, if not _more_ colorful than that.”

Ruby came back with their food just as the door to the dinner opened once more. They couldn’t see who entered.  It was David and Mary Margaret it seemed strange to be seeing their grandparents both of them looking as young as they entered the dinner and sat down at a table. They didn’t even turn and look at the three sisters who were sitting in the booth within ear shot of the couple.

 So this was what it was going to be like, seeing the family and the friends that they knew. Pretending to be someone else, unable to let anyone know the truth. They had each done some strange things in their past, been part of battles and spells but none as strange as this. Going back in time, it was something which you did in stories, something which didn’t really happen at random. Something had gone wrong in order to bring them to this time, and none of them knew what the answer was.

Henry had asked them to go back to Storybrooke together, to get something which would help them in the final battles. He had been vague as he called them into the tent, handing each of them a small stone which they would need to cast the spell. It would have taken days to walk to where the portal was located, and he needed them to go to Storybrooke as soon as possible.

He told them they would know it when they saw it, that it was in his apartment back in Storybrooke. But that didn’t exist now, the apartment over the boathouse wouldn’t be built for nearly another decade, were they supposed to wait all that time. Had Henry known that they would be going back in time, or was he pacing up and down the length of this tent somewhere in the future?

“Here’s this when you are ready.” Ruby said placing the check on the table.

The sisters looked at each other for a moment a shared look of panic across their faces. They had been mentally prepared to come back to Storybrooke but they had assumed it would be their own time, they hadn’t considered things like money or where to stay because they had assumed they would be taken care of.

Caroline placed her hand in her pockets and withdrew a credit card with her new fake name, placing it on the check. “That is cheating.”  Addison gasped absolutely appalled

“I thought that was allowed given my family history.” Addison reached across the booth and punched her in the arm. “Ow, that is sororicide” Caroline yelled loudly.

“You are getting an honest job if we are staying here.” Addison replied through closed teeth.

Lucy snickered. “Says the Queen of the Pirates.” She muttered under her breath. “Ah shit.” She winced as Addison kicked her under the table.

Ruby came to take the check, and the three sisters left the dinner. Caroline dragged them along into the nearest alley way. She rubbed her hands together handing them each a wallet and a smart phone.

“Caroline.” Addison hissed as she looked at the things with worry.

Caroline sighed. “What use it is it to have magic and not use it?” She said as she looked at Addison. Of the tree of them, it was the middle sister who had never shown any magical powers. “I promise we will do things the proper way when we can, but we have no contingency plan for _Back to the Future_ type situations and we need to focus on blending in right now.”

“Fine.” Addison said as she placed the phone in her pocket. They didn’t know how long they would be staying here. “But I was serious about jobs.”

“All right Mom.” Lucy rolled her eyes. “9th street, why is that familiar?”

Her older sisters turned and looked at her with a small giggle. “Because that’s where grandma and grandpa live.” Caroline replied thinking about the couple they had just seen in the dinner. The couple who hadn’t even given them a second glance.

It was a furnished apartment, which was well appreciated, but it was the floor below the Charming’s. Still the girls settled in. Spending the rest of the day coming to terms with the world around then. They had come here to find something which would help them defeat Mordred and finally allow them to unite the kingdoms of the fantasy realms, but the Knight, the Queen and The Maiden had no idea what that could possibly be.


	2. Adjustments

_Storybrooke, 2017_

Her feet pounded upon the ground as she ran. The sights were familiar but the circumstances were not. Caroline ran her heart barely beating fast as she rounded the corners putting on a burst of speed; the sensation was nearly like flying, nearly but not close enough. She had ridden enough dragons in her life time to know how that compared.

She had hardly been back to Storybrooke in her adult life, mostly by choice. It was still a place which reminded her deeply of the troubles of her youth. She had been fourteen when they had told her the truth. They should have waited, Caroline knew that now, but Lucy had begun to ask questions and put the facts together and her parents had been determined to tell them all at the same time.

Fourteen and just beginning to struggle with the magic that coarsened through her veins, and suddenly she knew the truth about this town. She knew the truth about everything; about who her parents really   were, about how she had come into the world.  She had been a terror, screaming, breaking things, struggling with the power that was inside of her and the knowledge which had been told to her in an attempt to make things seem better.

_Well of course I am this way my father is Captain Hook what would you expect?_ She had yelled time and time again as she destroyed the friendships of those around her. The magic terrified her. The fight to control it, to not lash out was all consuming. Combined with teenaged insecurities the struggle had left the town of Storybrooke forever haunted for her. She ran past landmarks remembering vividly in her mind having threatened to leave town at such a spot, at having fire erupt from her hands in a moment of anger, at the look of hopelessness in her parent’s eyes as she accidently hurt someone to the point of bleeding.

The summer after they had told them the truth, they had taken her to the House of Doors. Her mother opened one and in she stepped into the world of Arendelle. It was there where she met the real queen of her childhood fantasies. Elsa became her teacher, never fearing from the power that Caroline possessed, fighting every one of her bursts of flame with that of ice.

She returned in the fall able to control her magic but now painfully aware of just how much she did not fit into the world around her. Her anger was expressed in hitting things, in learning archery, sword fighting and martial arts. Then when she was sixteen, Arthur came to visit.

She had known him a decade by then, she had remembered the foolish young man he had once been and she saw the commanding presence of the young King he had become with the help of Henry. But Arthur had seen something else in her. He saw past the anger and the magic and saw her value as a fighter. He had taken her out to the forest, challenged her to a fight, and when she had won he had offered her a position as a knight when she finished high school.

At eighteen she sailed away from Storybrooke with her father’s sword at her side as she would later don the helm of the Black and White Knight. It was as Sir Caroline Swan where she found her place in the world; as an advisor at the Round Table, on the battlefield as they defeated Morgan le Fay and Morguse, as she watched Addison chose to rule the Enchanted Forest. For nearly twelve years she had been a knight, and now she was once again back in her home town haunted by her youthful bursts of anger.

She ran not watching anything except the ground beneath her feet as she focused on her even breathing. She was a knight, she was a witch, she was a fearsome thing to behold on a battlefield and now she was stuck in time. She stopped realizing that the pavement beneath her had run out, and she looked up at the old façade of the House of Doors itself, the sorcerer’s mansion, the very house on the edge of town where her mother had once met “the author”, an omnipotent Henry.

She walked up the steps wondering if he would be there now. The door was locked but with a wave of her hand it bent to her will. Inside it was dark and empty, nothing like the transportation hub she remembered. The doors were plain, not yet covered in the symbols and colors of the realms they held beyond closed doors. She could feel the magic in this place, but it was unfocused had not yet having found its purpose.

She walked along seeing every doorway in her mind as the portal it should be and not the piece of wood that it was. It saddened her to know that this was the world she had been sent to. If Henry had warned them that they would be going back to the past she may be more satisfied, but this was a disappointment.

The door to Arendelle was cold to her touch, she could see in it the ghostly shapes of the design it would one day hold. How badly she wished that any other world was a possibility to her right now other than the one she was standing in. She placed her hand on the knob, wishing it would open but knowing that it never would at least not now.

She had never asked how the House of Doors came to be, something which she now realized was greatly foolish. Caroline tugged angrily and she stumbled backwards as the knob came with her hand. She looked at it in desperation but it wasn’t a doorknob any more.

The golden pocket watch had a spider engraved upon it. She opened it, the clock was broken and yet when she placed it to her ear she still heard the unmistakable tick tock, tick tock.

“I’m pretty sure you don’t own this house.”

Caroline spun around, stuffing the watch into her sports bra. The lawman who had once been an outlaw was looking at her with a small frown on his face. “Who does?” Caroline asked gently trying to look innocent but knowing that on her round face innocence quickly turned into a downcast impish grin.

Robin didn’t seem to see any puckish characteristics in this disguise of hers. “What’s your name?” He inquired.

“Natalie Smith.” She said the alias feeling strange on her tongue.

“Are you just passing through Natalie?” She had rarely seen him so formal before in her life.

She shook her head. “I just moved here.”

He nodded. “It’s best to stay away from this place.” He took a step in closer to her.

“Are you arresting me?” Caroline whispered. She had been in the jail cell once before. She didn’t want to repeat that experience.

He laughed a broad smile coming across his chiseled face. “No, this is just a warning and a ride back into town.” Robin trailed behind her as she left the mansion, looking back at the doors which would one day lead her to endless possibilities of freedom. His eyes were close on her, she couldn’t blame him, he didn’t know who she really was and he couldn’t know. She had not been expecting to venture into the past, but she had read enough tales of time travel to know how to avoid the most basic of paradoxes. Robin looked at her with squinting eyes, almost as if he recognized her but that was impossible she was wearing a different face and for that very reason.

Caroline wondered if it would be easier if they all knew. They had been through enough traumatic events in the past, surely they would come to believe that she and her sisters had come here from the future. But she also remembered her mother talking about the years of peace. How things had been calmer in their word for a brief moment before Henry met Arthur, this would disrupt that.

He drove her back to the dinner, watching carefully as she entered and sat down at table just as Addison and Lucy entered as well, and quickly leaving to no doubt go and make a report of her suspicious whereabouts. Just like that Caroline was back to her strange reality.

Lucy rolled her eyes as she fell into the booth, running a hand over what she expected to be her short and manic hair but taking a moment to remember the long locks she had chosen instead as part of her disguise.

"Ugh, you snore." She said looking at Addison. The elder raised her eyes clearly wondering if that was a valid question. "Like to the point where I think it needs to be checked out by a medical professional. Did you know about this?" she said turning to Caroline.

“She also talks in her sleep.” She nodded, "We shared a room until I was ten."

“You’re the one who looks like you go to war every night with your covers and the covers loose.” Addison snapped.

"I didn't know you used to share rooms." Lucy replied.

"Yes because by the time you were old enough to remember anything, what's his name was already living out in the detached apartment." Caroline added, she looked over her shoulder not able to brush off the feeling of being watched.

"You know my first memory," Addison began as she looked at Lucy. "Is the day you were born. I remember watching grandma make a cake, and I remember walking into the hospital and going into the room and seeing you in mom's arms for the first time."

"Gezz how old were you." Lucy asked

"Little over three."

Caroline scoffed. "They say if the first thing you remember is under the age of four it is something your brain saw as traumatic. Ha, you were a traumatic event Luce."

"Oh were you excluding yourself from this conversation, because your whole origins into this world could be considered traumatic." Lucy snapped.

“Dar-cy.” Addison said stressing the fake name. “Where we’re you this morning?” She asked turning to Caroline in her most regal of manners. There was a reason that Addison had been the one who had taken the crown, she had the level head which Caroline did not.

“I went for a run, out to the House of Doors.”

They both leaned in closer. “And?”

Caroline shook her head. “None of them are working, but I did find this.” She said as she placed the watch on the table. They looked it over but saw nothing conclusive. It was a house brimming with magic, certainly there were leftover objects in the house.

“We need to get jobs and figure out what we are doing here.” Addison replied as she ran her fingers’ across the spider. It made no sense to her, a spider and a watch, it baffled her.

“And what are you two qualified for?” Lucy asked as she sat back in the booth. “Sailing and heroics.”

Addison rolled her eyes. Reaching into her bag and pulling out three sheets of papers. “Here are some leads. Natalie, the high school needs a new physical education teacher. I think you can take care of any qualifications you would need.” She said as she handed the paper to her older sister.

Caroline looked it over, she could easily fake any credentials she needed, but she was surprised to see Addison in support of it “You didn’t happen to write me a resume did you?”

Addison ignored her. “Darcy with your extensive knowledge of history.” Lucy had just finished her master’s degree in the classics. “The library might be suited to you.”

“Thanks.” She said with a roll of her eyes at the expected appointment. “What about you?” A smile fell across Addison face and they all knew what she would be doing. “All right, go sail a ship.” Lucy chided, there was a reason Addison had taken the title of the Queen of the Seas. Lucy reached into her pocket and pulled out two car keys and handing them out. “Blue Volvo wagon out front.” She added.

Caroline looked at her suspiciously as she took the car key. “How did you manage that?”

Lucy smiled wickedly. “You know I have my ways.” She replied cryptically.

“How are you going to get around? “ Caroline asked “How am I going to get around?”

“Well I got myself a motorbike” Lucy began “But since neither of you know how to ride one I guess that’s just for me.” Caroline sighed, but said nothing in return.

Addison stood, leaving the dinner and getting in to the car. It was close to twenty years old and the interior was all torn up on the inside but it drove fine as she headed down to the docks.

All three sisters had grown up sailing on the seas, it was inevitable. Yet it had been Addison who had loved it the best. By the time she was ten she could sail a small boat on her own, and by the time she was eleven she was completing nationally in competitions. Any of them could have taken the title if they wanted to, but it was Addison who went restless if she stayed on land for too long.

The Queen of the Seas, her father had told her the stories when she was a child. The daughter of a pirate and princess, the woman who all sailors feared and revered. According to the tale, two thousand years ago when a princess took a former sailor as her prince and together they had two children. The elder daughter, wild and carefree wanted nothing to do with the castle which was her birthright. So she fashioned a new rule for herself, she took to the seas with a banner of three black waves upon a golden crest. The ruled the pirates, the traders, the merchants anyone who traveled on her liquid lands watched for her banners on the horizon. Firm and just, she went down in history as the very first Queen of the pirates. It was another three hundred years before the banners were taken up again. Addison Swan was the sixth Queen of the Seas.

She tucked the golden necklace down into her shirt, she had no intention of ever taking it off. Even though it was a foolish and stubborn choice something which would clearly place her in suspicion as Caroline noted, but she had worn it since she young and she never planned on taking it for the rest of her life.

But it wasn’t the only title that she carried.

She had been thirteen when they all sat down and had what seemed to be the longest conversation in her lifetime. For over ten years the door back to the Enchanted Forest had been opened. People had gone back and forth, settling once again into the land which had been scorned and burned. Arthur had just began his campaign of Camelot, of uniting all the kingdoms and the Enchanted Forest needed a ruler.

She had sat at the table with her sisters, with Henry, with her parents, her grandparents, with her uncle Neal, and they discussed who wanted to be the ruler of the Enchanted Forest. Neal wanted no part of it, Henry was busy at Arthur’s side, and Caroline had chosen to be a knight. Her grandparents had done it before, her mother seemed hesitant to actually rule over a land rather than just protect it. Addison had been thirteen, she had been young but there had been younger kings and queens before. And if she had the intention to rule the seas, it would make no difference if she had a hold over the land as well.

So at fourteen she became the Queen of the Enchanted Forest. She traveled back to the land where her parents had been born, Caroline at her side to protect her. Queen Guinevere had helped her, given her guidance and shown her how to rule. Her grandparents came to the forest with her for the first few years, acting as advisors, even Regina who choose to remain mostly in Storybrooke gave her a few pieces of advice. But by the time she was eighteen she was a beloved Queen of the land and the sea.

It was strange being back in the town which she had spent the beginning years of her life in. It was comforting to be near the sea, but perhaps was most discomfort was her lack of power. She had worn a crown on her head for over a decade, she felt naked without it.

“Can I help you?” She turned and looked at her father. He seemed younger, he _was_ younger. It seemed strange to her that the image of him that she had in her head was different from when she was younger.

“I was wondering if you had any jobs.”

Half a smile fell across his face as he walked towards her. She wondered what he saw. Though his eyes here was a woman before him, in her late twenties standing tall with an air about her as if this were her birthright, as if she always got what he wanted. It was a familiar streak of stubbornness wearing an unfamiliar face.

“Do you know how to tie a sail?” She nodded her head “Hold twelve. If you can tie the mast sail on and I’ll find a job for you.”

Addison bounced away to the ship in question. Tying a canvas sail was more than a one person job. She knew that he was testing her but she had done it before. Just stepping onto a ship was enough of a welcoming feeling that she relished the task, piling her hair high on top of her head as she worked away in the heat, aware of Killian’s watchful eyes as she hosted the sail perfectly on her first try.

He stepped on board, looking up at her in the rigging. “What’s your name?” He shouted up at her.

“Mia Smith.” She called down to him as she jumped down and back onto the dock. She could see the impression she had made, the same one as she always made, graceful and delicate on the outside yet filled with a determined work ethic to do the difficult work on the inside. She knew what people thought of her on first impression, she used it to her advantage all the time.

“Where did you learn how to do all that Mia?”

She smiled. She would learn it all from him in good time. “I’ve been sailing my whole life.” She replied knowingly.

“Not just sailing through I see. You know how to take care of ships.”

“Yes I do sir.”

She watched the smile form across her father’s face. It was strange to see the way he interacted with her, the different voice he used the way he stood more authoritatively. “Do you know how to fix ships as well?” her eyes narrowed in confusion. “There is an old boat up in the dry docks, I’ve been meaning to get it restored for years, but I haven’t had the time. Do you think you could help?”

She shrugged. “I’ve fixed decks and sails before... But not much more than that.”

He gave a small nod. “That’s okay with me. I can teach you what you don’t know.”

She felt a small little swell of emotion as she looked at him, at least if she was going to be ripped away from all of her family, this was some sort of consolation prize. Even if he didn’t know who she really was, just the act of being near her father seemed to reassure her that everything would be alright. “Sure, I can try.”

“Then you have a job Ms. Smith.” Killian replied as he shook her hand. “Come on into the office and we’ll get everything set up.”

She had always liked the office as a child, it had been a surprisingly dark room. Even with windows looking out over most sides of the harbor but it seemed to all be dampened by the lack of overhead lighting and the dark blue cabinets which lined the walls. They were all labeled on her father’s neat cursive as to their contents, maps, forms, supplies, she knew which ones contained every spare little bit of nautical equipment and even a few personal treasures. The walls were adorned with paintings and photographs of old sail boats, glass buoys hung from the rafters, there were bronze spyglasses and golden compasses thrown about on the tables. It was the sort of nautical treasure trove antique dealers dreamt of, but to him it was just stuff which had always been in his life.

Killian walled over to the workbench where a reluctantly kept a computer which sat hardly used. He pulled on the fraying chord of the long florescent tube lamp overhead, the bulb flickering for nearly a minute until it illuminated the stacks of paper with an unnatural glow.

“Where are you from?” He asked offhand as he shifted through the neat stacks. Her nose scrunched as she felt strange coming up with an answer on the spot, hoping that none of her sisters had already felt the end to discuss their fake backstory. They should have thought of that the night before.

“California.” She said glancing at a map of the United States up on the wall.

There was a knock on the door and she turned to see the face of Will Scarlet entering the room and approaching her.

 “Captain.” Killian looking at him with a small nod. "So what's your name?" Will Scarlet’s thick voice called with a suggestive glance.  She giggled placing her left hand in the air, letting the blue gemstone catch the light. "Fair enough what is his name?” he replied somewhat disappointed.

Addy grinned as she almost felt bad for him. "Olivia." 

Killian let out a hearty laugh slamming his hand into the desk. “I guess you better back off Will.” He said as he enjoyed the look of shock on Scarlet’s face. "Can I help you with anything?"

"No.... I just... Leaving for the day.” He stammered as he slinked off.

Killian turned to her with a look of admiration. “Where is Olivia?”

“She back home holding down the fort.” Addison replied longingly at the thought of her wife. She was trying to keep her spirits up be saying that this was to be a short detour.  She didn't really want to be reminded that Oliva was off somewhere worrying about her. “And where are you from Captain?” as long as she could keep the conversation about him perhaps he could keep from realizing that she was actually his daughter from the future.

“Oh I haven’t been a Captain in a very long time.” He said with a shake of his head.

She knew that to be true, but she knew that somewhere in her own time he had taken up that role once again. “Once a Captain always a captain I say.” Addison replied half gesturing to the artifacts if the room around her.

He shook his head. “Maybe, but in my experience people change Mia. In this place more than any other.” He of course was one of the better known examples of the changing powers of Storybrooke.

“How long have you been in Storybrooke?”

“Six years.” he replied, not indulging her with any more information.

“And you like it?” She wondered if he would remember this, surely he would.

He nodded. “Before I came here I was wandering endlessly, now I have a wife three kids a purpose in life. Surely you must know what that is like, you and Olivia, what is she like?”

Addison smiled remembering his reaction the very first time she ever brought Olivia over for dinner. There had been a stunned expression on his face as he had looked at the girl who was timidity holding onto Addy’s hand. She had looked straight into his eyes and told him that Olivia was her girlfriend. She had had girlfriends before, but she had never brought any of them home. Killian had nodded once as if telling himself something extremely personal, before he replied ‘Alright then.’

“Oh she is the wild soul of an adventure that I am often not. Impulsive, manic, adorning, we met upon the seas themselves, though she is better suited to land than I am. We’ve been married seven years. My father was a basket case when I got married at twenty.” She added with a large grin on her face. Killian looked at her seeing the love on her face.

“Any children?”

She shook her head. “We’ve been too occupied with other things, besides we have a long lifetime ahead of us to worry about that.” When the wars were over, that was when they would talk about children.

“You must really love her.”

“Oh I do.” Addison said quickly as she smiled at her father. There was something comforting in talking to him, even if he had no clue who she really was. She wondered if he would remember this in the end, if maybe he had known all along, changing time was something which made her head rattle. “But what about your family, your wife?”

“I love them more than anything else in the world.” He said with a wide smile. “You should come over and meet them.”

She could feel her jaw hanging open as she tried to come up with an excuse. “That a generous offer but…”

“Surely you can’t have any plans for dinner tonight.” She laughed nervously.

“No I don’t think I do. But-” She left it opened ended to try and get a way out of the situation but he didn’t catch onto the cue. "Just let me just text my sister and let me her know where I'm going to be." she saw the strange expression of all across his face and grimaced “You think it's a bit weird for adult siblings to have to be telling one another about their whereabouts don't you?”

"No its-" Ge was stumbling over the words trying to form a complete thought “No its-it's nice that you're so close with your sisters. I hope my own daughters are like that one day. I was very close to my brother when I was younger.”

She knew better than to ask. Growing up there had been very few mentions of Liam Jones. It had been easier to simply not explain an uncle who had been dead for a few hundred years, then to explain the truth to such young girls. But in more recent years her father had told her more and more about the adventures he had with his brother on the seas. She knew how much his death had affected him. She could barely imagine how she would cope with one of her siblings had perished as well at such a young age.

“Then it’s agreed.” He said as he stood up and grabbed his coat as Addison rose, following her father out of the office.

It was strange how the house seemed the same. Maybe it was the fact that she had always seen it in pictures of when they were all little, but it felt that in nearly thirty years the house by the sea would still look the same. The wood siding was still the same shade of faded grey, the blue rimmed windows tinged green by the sea air, the plants smaller but still the same species. But when he opened the door, when she looked out at that familiar vista which was forever engrained in her memory that was when she saw the differences. There were children’s toys scattered all about, some of the furniture was different, the walls were not yet covered in Lucy’s skilled childhood drawings or the photographs of major life events which were yet to happen. There was still a nursery, and Henry’s bedroom and Lady nipping at her feet.

“Emma I….”

“Daddies home, Daddies home.” The younger Caroline and Addison called out as they ran towards Killian both of them attacking at his legs. He laughed as he picked both of them up. That was the man that the older Addison remembered, the smiles on his face as he made them laugh and called them silly names.

“I invited someone for dinner.” He shouted to Emma bellow as he dropped both of the girls to the ground.

Caroline looked up at her with suspicion. Addison looked down at the face which she had only ever seen in photographs. “Who are you?”

She knelt down. “My name is Mia, I work with your Dad down by the docks.” She replied with a smile. Lady was trying to jump up on her, clearly recognizing who she was. Addison allowed the dog to lick her, but tried to shoo it away. “What are your names?”

“Caroline James Swan, I’m three and a half.” She said proudly. “How old are you?”

“Caroline that’s not polite to ask.” Killian muttered but Addison shook her head, it didn’t bother her.

“I’m twenty seven and ten months.” Addison replied after some through. “And who are you?” She turned and asked her younger self.

“Aaaaadddy.” The older Addison laughed, glad she was never able to remember this encounter.

She joined them all down stairs, where she watched her mother cook dinner.  Something which she had been doing with magic before knowing there was company. Now focused on stirring  the pot of sauce, Emma smiled at her  off handedly as she entered the room and introduced herself as Mia Smith, dockhand. She watched as her father joined in on the cooking as the two little girls began to play with their dolls, babbling to themselves about some made up story.

“So are you new to town then?” Emma asked her as Addison sat at the table tracing away at the familiar patterns and marks.

“Yeah I just moved to into town with my sisters a few days ago.” She replied. She watched her younger self and Caroline play, remembering the stories they had made up with Barbie’s and American Girl dolls the tales they would tell over and over again. She wondered if any of them had ever been anything more than tales.

“That’s nice to be with family. My sister Mary Margaret lives in Storybrooke as well, I moved her about six years ago to be closer to her.” Emma lied.

Addison nodded, remembering her mother’s so claimed super power of being able to tell when anyone was lying she wondered how carefully she would have to tread given the current circumstances. “Oh I think she lives in the apartment above us. Small world after all, huh?”

Emma looked at her with narrowed eyes. “Yeah it is.” She replied.

“So do you just have the two girls then?”

Emma shook her head. “Henry is my oldest, he’s from a previous relationship. He’ll be sixteen in a few weeks, he’s off traveling in Europe with a group of kids from his school.”

“That sounds fascinating.”

“Yeah it is. Do you have any kids?”

Addison shook her head. “No, it’s been a bit to hectic for us to discuss that.”

Emma laughed as she looked at Killian. “Oh well we didn’t even get a chance to discuss anything before Caroline came about.”

Addison blushed, half embarrassed for Caroline that her parents would be so willing to admit to a stranger than she was unplanned. “Yeah well, Olivia and I don’t really have that possibility open to us.”

“Oh you’re a…”

“Lesbian.”  Addison said in a matter of fact voice. “Yep, Livy and I have been married for seven years this summer.”

Emma smiled at her genuinely as she began to corral her daughters to the table. “Well if you ever do have kids they are quite challenging but rewarding.” She replied. Addison had to stifle a laugh, her mother had no clue just how challenging they would all prove to be in the next two decades.

“I don’t know.” Killian said as he sat down at the table with them, he looked at Caroline. “What do you think Caroline should we get rid of your sister Addy?”

“Noooo. Don’t take my baby.” Caroline pouted. The older Addison wished that she could have gotten that moment on camera for the years to come.; for proof during the many of years in which Caroline had not gotten along with any of her siblings, that she did in fact love them.

The evening passed by in pleasant lies being told by both sides of the table, Addison hiding who she really was just as much as Emma and Killian were. She left the house, driving back through the familiar streets in the unfamiliar car, with the windows rolled down and the radio turned up as she enjoyed the last few moments of late summer sunlight.

Addison walked up the stairs of the apartment building wondering how long they would truly be here in this version of Storybrooke. Surely if she had met her parents, if she had spent an evening with them they would have told her about this in the future. They would have forwarded her in the most recent weeks about what was about to happen, at least they would have recognized her. Or maybe they had forgotten, somehow Caroline or Lucy had wiped their memories of them ever coming back in time. She wondered if that was possible as she climbed up the staircase the music growing louder as she approached their door.

Caroline and Lucy were dancing around the room, their hands in the air as they jumped up and down to the music.

_Who run the world?_

“Girls.” They were shouting loudly as they jumped up and down. Lucy pointing at Addison as she closed the door behind her. It was only in the most recent of years, when Lucy had gone off to college really when the girls began to once again enjoy one another’s company. But with Lucy choosing to live in Storybrooke when Addison and Caroline lived in the magical realms it was seldom in which they spent any sort of time together.

_Who run the world?_

“GIRLS.” They all shouted as Addison joined them dancing up and down

“God I missed Beyoncé.”  Caroline shouted over the loud music. Her hair was a cascading wave of bouncing curls as she jumped up and down a dance style that was only seen on Earth. Lucy was shrugging her shoulders mouthing all of the words as she swayed back and forth. Addison was moving her hips as if grinding with an invisible partner.

_My persuasion can build a nation._ Caroline pointed at Addison, the very Queen herself as the music continued on. _Endless power, with our love we can devour._

There was a sharp knock at the door, and Lucy laughed as she made her way towards it her head bopping as she opened the door. David was standing there looking somewhat cross.

“It’s a little loud for a Monday night girls.” He grunted.

“Sorry.” Lucy laughed as Caroline turned down the music. “We’ll keep it down.” She added as he walked away. She turned and faced her older sisters, laughing loudly as the door closed behind her once more.

_Girls, we run this motha._

The music continued to play as the three sisters danced late into the night the music which had been so long forgotten in their time in different lands. Together they seemed to make a silent bond, this new world was strange and difficult for all of them, but they were in this together, and they would manage together.


	3. Coxswain

_Storybrooke, 2017_

“So what are you saying” Addy murmured as they sat on the sofa in front of the television, the contents of the DVD Box set scattered over the coffee table.

“I'm saying that if we are talking a hypothetical Game of Thrones situation the problem would not be your lack of heirs to the throne it would be how you assumed power in the first place.” Caroline replied her hands in the air as she paused the DVD. Learn from it, that was what she had claimed when she suggested that the watch the first season of the television show. It wasn’t real, the reality of Game of the Thrones, at least Caroline desperately hoped so. But if the Wicked Witch of the West and Alice in Wonderland could be real she didn’t know what else was.

“What?” Addison breathed confused.

“Obviously the title of Queen of the Seas would go to Lucy since I have never wanted it and that I gave up that right when I became a knight. But there would be a question as to whether or not you were the rightful ruler of the Enchanted Forest in the first place?”

Addison rolled her eyes as her older sister. “Are you saying that Mom or Neal would take over?”

“I'm saying that technically the kingdom belongs to grandma and grandma, or even Regina really.”

“Do you really think there are people in my Kingdom who think that I am not the rightful ruler?”

“I'm mean I'm not trying to keep you up at night, but probably, yes.” Caroline snidely remarked.

Addison hit her on the shoulder. “Hey you were part of the conversation of who wanted to rule as well. We decided as a family that it would be me.”

“I know.” Caroline shrugged “I’m just saying if you were ever to get viciously mauled by a boar and then die, there would be a power vacuum in your place.”

Addison rolled her eyes. “You know sometimes that viciousness which you use as a mask to hide your own insecurities and worries is really not needed Caroline.” She knew the real reason why her older sister was pushing at her buttons. Addison was terrified they would never return too. “We’ll get back Caroline. We will.” She added in a whisper as she leaned against her sister once more.

“I know.” She breathed. But she didn’t want to settle into a life in Storybrooke. She had made the choice as an adult to leave the town and what was in it. She had no desire to go back, not like this. Caroline was trying to be hopeful, trying to know that combined with Addison and Lucy they would come up with a plan to get back, but everything seemed to be under a cloud of confusion.

She had left a life behind. She had left people who she cared about her behind. She knew that Addison had as well, but she didn’t let her longing for Olivia cloud her judgment. Lucy too had people and responsibilities she had left behind, but she had always lived a life where she called more than one place a home. Caroline was rooted to the place she had chosen as her home, she only left it out of duty or when she absolutely had to.

They had assumed that this would be a quick trip that they would run into some old wizened man who would give them what they needed and send them on their way. They had not expected the time travel element, or being stuck, or not being able to ask for help. The life that Caroline had left behind was not something which she could easily forget, and Caroline had always been terrible at keeping her fiery emotions separate from the task at hand.

“Don’t you have a job interview in an hour?” Lucy asked as she started the DVD again.

Caroline nodded. “Yeah I do.” She replied. She didn’t want to fit into this world, but she would have to play by the rules for all of their sakes.

Addy turned and looked at her with a raised brow. “I know it is to be a PE teacher but you might want to dress up. Make a good impression.”

Caroline sighed as she stood walking to the bedroom which she shared with Lucy and returning moments latter’s having put on dress pants, a blouse and makeup.

“Oh my god could you be any more hipster you're wearing a shirt with mustaches on it.” Lucy laughed as Caroline sat back down.

Addy leaned over and looked the white and black printed blouse. “They’re not mustaches they look like ants up close.”

 Caroline let out a huge sigh “They're not ants and they’re not mustaches… they’re swans”

Lucy’s head hit against the sofa as she burst out into laughter. “Way to blend in….not stick out….be in disguise.” She said through her tears.

Caroline stood, her face forming a grimace as she looked at her sisters shaking her head. “Fine then I’m leaving. Would you like to know which main character dies next?” She said loudly as she walked across the room and grabbed her purse and slammed the door behind her loudly.

Lucy and Addison looked at each other both giggling. Only part of them felt bad for making fun of their sister.  “It’s time we both went to work too.” Addison muttered as she stood up. “Do you need a ride?”

Lucy shook her head. “I got my bike.” She said as she watched Addison grab her car keys. “I’ll see you tonight.”

Addy nodded, trying not to be bothered by what Caroline had said as she left and headed down for the docks

**

Lucy’s knees hugged the sides of the yellow motorbike as she leaned into the turn. It had been over a week and Lucy had slipped into life her in the past of Storybrooke with ease. Perhaps it was because this was the time in which she had never been. It fascinated her to see what the world looked like before she had ever been born. It was as if she was living in some sort of a dream, seeing the past which she had only ever heard about yet had eluded her.

The stopped outside of the library, leaning the bike up against the side of the building as she placed the helmet under her arm. She had yet to see Regina’s look of distain upon seeing her on a motorcycle. She had never understood the woman’s distain for motorcycles, but even as an adult back in her own time she enjoyed seeing the look of distain upon Regina’s face when she rode up on her bike.

The library was surprisingly crowded in the final weeks of summer. Students from the high school trying to finish summer reports, parents dragging their children for final attempts at entertainment, it was a place which was a living and buzzing with activity and Lucy was able to slip into it easily. Occasionally there were double takes from the citizens of the town, the noticing of a familiar resemblance which was yet to come. But unlike Caroline and Addison, who continually heard their own names and we’re unable to respond Lucy had no such problems.

The children’s section was her favorite. Colorful and filled with bean bag chairs and stuffed animals it was here where young minds still found the escape in reading which would elude them later in life. There was a youthful joy in which multicolored spines were picked at random, at the familiar title and editions which brought back memories.

They would come and ask her for recommendations. Children had no sense of tepidness when they knew she would point them in the direction of a well-loved story. Their small faces would look up at hers, they would mutter out a title, or a character or simply say the red one. Lucy would take their hand and lead them on an adventure through the short stacks to the title of their desire often reading the story aloud to them as needed.

The fairy tales were the most loved. It made sense, in their traditional forms and even the twisted telling’s. But it brought a small knowing smile to her eye as she saw the son of Cinderella clutching so longingly to his mother’s tale.

“Which one is your favorite?”

That question would always bring a smile to her face. As she gave the response from her heart. Caroline had loved the stories of Anna and Elsa, Addison had adored Peter Pan, but Lucy. “The Princess and the Pea.” She would reply with a smile. Remember long ago days when her father had called after her, his little golden haired princess, never know that it wasn’t just a silly name.

It was a silly tale too, the story of a picky princess, that was nothing like who Lucy aspired to be in her own life, and yet it was the tale which she had loved so ardently in her youth. Perhaps because it had seemed the most realistic, the one which could have really happened, but then again they had all happened in one way or another.

Caroline had hated learning about the real past. She had hated knowing who her father had once been, who everyone had been. She had screamed and cried and broken down a hundred times before she ever came to terms with the reality. Addison had asked a million questions, wanting to know every single detail, every aspect of every tale she had ever heard of. But Lucy had just been quiet, she had accepted that it had been the past, that it was part of their future, but that there was nothing else they could do other than live their lives.

She was the youngest, the baby, and the one who nearly everyone tried to shield from the real world around her. But perhaps it was Lucy who had the clarity to see the truths in the world around her the most. She knew the stories of good and evil, she knew the wicked tricks that humans played on one another. Lucy Swan may have been the youngest in her family, but she had paid attention to the lessons that those around her were offering to give. Good and bad she listened to them all, as her older siblings found themselves becoming tangled in the legend of Camelot.

She had only been in one real battle in her youth, sixteen and hidden in a dungeon as the world burned above her head. She had cried and screamed over the sacrifices that had been made that night. In anger she had caved into her innate darkness which Caroline had fought against so hard. For a moment she had been tempted to let herself get lost in the ease of dark magic. The moment was the most intoxicating thing in the world and then she remembered the consequences of that path.

After that Lucy had stayed behind in the realm of Earth, she had gone to Yale and Harvard and gotten her master’s degree. She had poured herself into the history and literature of this realm, fighting the nagging sensation of the magic within her. But just like the princess in the tale which she loved so much she could still feel the small seed beneath all the layers of what her life had become.

A year ago she had agreed to go over and help, to take over some of the responsibilities which Caroline held. The Green Maiden, they had called her, it certainly was not her favorite nick name. She wasn’t much of a maiden any more, but she did wear a lot of green. Still she had done her bit, she had used her skills of magic to help where it was needed. She had stood on battlefields, she had concocted spells and protected villages from the destruction which they were fighting against. Lucy had never been part of the story before, she had never taken a role like her older siblings. Maybe it had been the stories she had heard about just how easy it was to turn dark, or one to many tales of trickery which had persuaded her from every really practicing magic. But she had to confess to herself that in her time spent as the Green Maiden she found a comfort to her actions which had not been present on Earth.

But now she was back, looking at familiar clock tower and dinners, back as if she had never been gone before. And yet the life she was now living was a lie, a secret shadow.  Secrets were something which Lucy was familiar with, she had always liked keeping secrets. But she wasn’t used to being a secret herself most of the time.

Now she was in the library, the very place where she had spent much of her childhood before filled with the familiar stories of her youth.

“Umm miss.” She turned around to see the familiar flop of dark curls on Roland’s head. He was six or seven, younger than she would ever get to know him in her own time. Lucy smiled at him as she looked down at him.

“I’m Miss Smith, can I help you?” She said with a small smile.

“I’m looking for a book.” He muttered. He was shy, he would even be so in adulthood. Shy and timid until you got to know him, then Roland would come alive. His face would light up with laughter and wonder as he told stories of the most fascinating things, about the long and storied life he had led. He had lived in forests, he had lived in different worlds, his stepmother had once been an evil queen, and he had stories to tell. But now the boy that Lucy looked upon did not know about who he would become.

“Well what kind of stories do you like?” Lucy said as she bent down to look closer to him. He shrugged his shoulders. “Do you like mysteries, stories of adventure, and stories about history?” She paused, she knew who he was going to be in the future, who he already was by the time she was old enough to remember. They had gone back in time. She had always liked stories about tricksters and time travelers and now that adoration was paying off. They couldn’t change the past, but she could plant the seeds in the hearts and minds of those who would play an important role in the future. “What about stories of dragons?”

His small face lit up in a sheepish manner as he nodded and followed her through the small stacks to a series of books which she had in mind. She pulled one out, handing it to him and he looked and the image of the princess and the dragon with caution.

“It’s about a girl?” He said somewhat disappointed.

She shook her head as she placed the book in his hands. “In a way. It’s about princess who volunteers to be captured by a dragon.”

“That’s silly.” Roland snickered.

“Exactly.” Lucy said with a smile. “See sometimes dragons can be scary, but sometimes they are just as silly as you and me.”

He took the book from her hands and scuttled away. Lucy watched as he returned to his father, showing him the book eagerly. _Dragons_ , she thought to herself as she watched Roland leave the library. She had spent much of the past year in the company of dragons and those who tamed and rode them. The Dragon Riders where known throughout most of the lands and for the last three years they had been led by Roland Loxley himself.

**

Killian was testing her, making sure that she could do exactly what he needed before he showed it to her. He didn’t trust her yet. She had a strong work ethic, she was able to order around men like any proficient coxswain and she was certainly the most skilled person he had ever seen for the job in question but it wouldn’t be just a ship which he was asking her to repair. 

For two years the Jolly Roger had been kept in dry dock in a very large warehouse. It had been Emma who had made it appear on half a dare. He hadn’t believed his eye when he first saw his beloved ship once again on the horizon. There had been an unmistakable joy followed by the realization that a pirate’s brig really had no place in his life anymore.

Surprisingly that fact had not made him feel sad or upset in any manner. But it had raised the question with what he was going to do with the ship. The time it had spent away from Neverland meant that it was beginning to age as well, and whomever had eventually taken over the ship in the Enchanted Forest had not taken particularly good care of it. So he and a few of the men he hired brought it up on the land where it sat away in a warehouse. He would take care of it when the idea took his fancy. But more often than not he left it, seeing almost no more used for the ship that only reminded him of the foul name he once had.

Mia Smith stuck him as the right woman for the job for some unknown reason, and he had put her through enough. “Follow me.” He said as he watching as she tied the knots. She moved without question, following him silently as he led her away from the docks to the collection of warehouse and other buildings that we needed to store and keep the many things that came in and out of the harbor.

He stood in front of these strange set of doors, one large enough to fit an entire airplane through, within it one large enough for cars and then an even smaller door for people. Just standing here made him feel inconsequential to what he knew was contained within the massive building. He opened the door, letting Mia step through into the darkness, before he fumbled at the wall for the switches.

“Oh my god.” She breathed as her head craned upwards as she looked at the ship before her. She had seen it a thousand times before, but never so out of the water itself. She walked towards it like a firefly to the light, running her hand across the old hull. She was a tall woman, but never in her life had she felt so small as she look up at the deck a hundred feet above her.

She touched it, not believing that it was real. But of course it was real. She had grown up with this ship, it would even be hers one day. But she looked up at the Brig with a strong sense of strange nostalgia, this ship meant something to her. Something which was nearly impossible to put into words. It was the source of off a hundred vivid childhood memories, and countless more adult milestones. It had been a childhood hideaway, her tree fort on the seas, it had been a place where she had run to when she was upset or angry.

And when she had finally declared that she wished to the Queen of the Seas, he had given it to her as the crown jewel in her fleet. She had spent time with her family on that ship, with Olivia, with her crew. The ship almost was a part of her family. To get the chance to work on it was an honor.

Killian saw the expression on her face. He did not know why we was so willing to trust her so easily, it was something he had never really done before. But the expression on her face solidified his judgement.

“She’s going to need a lot of work.” He said as he followed her up to the very bottom of the hull. “A lot of wood needs to be replaced, the deck needs to be refinished, some new paint work and all new sails. You think you can do it?”

She turned and looked at him with a nod. “Yeah I can manage.” She whispered back with a teary smile.

~~

_The Enchanted Forest, 2031_

"So rumor has it that you have gone and carved out a new mantel for yourself." Addison turned around to look at her father standing with his arms crossed and a smile on his face.  It was her castle, her palace now and yet she was always glad to have sight of her parents. "Should I bow?" He asked sarcastically.

She had to stifle a laugh as she looked up and down the corridor. She may have been the queen and anything she said was accepted with law but there was still some sense of formal decorum which she tried to cultivate. "Somehow I never see that happening." Addison replied.

"We’ll you are the Queen of the Seas, and I am a sailor." So he had heard, no doubt from Mary Margaret, about her determination to add another title to her name.

She shook her head ever so slightly as he began to walk alongside her. "You're still my father." She whispered. He may have once been a feared pirate, she may have used the fact that she was Captain Hook’s daughter to her advantage more than once, but she had never glimpsed him in that dark figure in her lifetime. To her the image of Captain Hook in her mind bared a strong resemblance to the fictional one.

He took a hold of her arm gently as he pulled her in towards the wall. "And as your father-do you know what you are doing Addison? You can have seamstresses make those banners but you understand what it will meant to sail under them?"

He had met one Queen of the Seas before, he had hoped that she would be his way out of Neverland, but all she had given him was stern words of warning. "Yes I understand." she replied, this had what she wanted her whole life. She had dreamed of this, even if she had told no one of that aspiration.

"This is for life Addison, you can’t just pass this crown on to Lucy when you feel like it."

Though all things considered he had never known of a Queen of the Seas to wear a real crown before. Nor had any of them been real queens of substantial land as well. It had been a role of nobility created out of rebellion and the desire for fraction.  It did not strike him as something Addison would ever have been interested in.

She gave him a nod, her familiar eyes showing a familiar streak of stubbornness.  He wondered if his own resolve had been so firm when he was sixteen, she may have looked just like him but she had Emma's determination.

"Here." He said placing the compass in her hand. It was a furtive gesture, nearly meaningless but it wasn’t as if he could give her a set of keys.

She looked at it confused. "What's this?"

“I want you to take her.” He declared and she understood what he meant, he was giving her the Jolly Roger.

“Really, I know what she means to you" Addison replied in astonishment.

"The Queen of the Pirates should be captain of a real pirate ship, not something which royal shipbuilders made in some forest kingdom." He muttered trying not to get two sentimental about this moment but it was impossible not to as emotions got the better of him.

Her fingers danced across the surface of the smooth compass. It was old, a few hundred years at least and yet it still found north. "I can't promise that it won't get damaged or scratched." Addison stammered.

"I know." He said reassuringly "But you'll fix what you'll damage, and you will take good care of her."

"Dad." She whispered. Having so much more she wanted to say to him. What would he sail? What would he do? He was placing the ship which had been with him more than anything else in the hands of his sixteen year old daughter. He had given it up once before, he had traded it so he could find the woman he loved. Years later Emma had returned the favor by bringing it back to the realm they lived in, and now after sailing it as a changed man he was passing it down to his daughter. Some families had homes or gems as family heirlooms, they had a pirate’s brig.

Addison could not find the way to express her gratitude into real words. She leaned forward hugging him.

"Now will you get going you pirate." He whispered in her ear.

She pulled back, looking at him with a smile as she gave him a salute. He saluted right back, watching as she turned and ran down the corridor towards her ship the grey cloak with the white Swan training behind her.

~~

_Storybrooke, 2017_

Regina laughed as she looked at the picture which Henry had sent her. All those years ago when he had become her son she would have never imagined that this was how his life would turn out. She never through much beyond her desire to have a child of her own. She had never considered that one day he might have realized that he was the only one in the town of Storybrooke who aged, or that he might desire to venture outside of it in due time. She had only cared that she had him to raise. For ten years she had done her best, but now she had done even better she imagined.

Henry was loved and respected, a model student who everyone had high expectations for. He was kind and caring and thoughtful and part of a larger family than she had ever imagined that he would have. He wasn’t her only child anymore; she looked across her desk at the imagines of Roland and Charlie. She had never imagined that this was what her family would look like one day. She loved Roland, just as much as she did Henry and she had been utterly shocked at the seemingly impossibility of Charlie. But as Henry often said true love could work miracles and that was what she finally had with Robin.

The woman who she had been, the evil woman filled with rage had slowly disappeared. For years she had only been consumed by the darkness within her heart and soul. There had been a time, when she had looked at her own blackened heart and assumed that she would be wicked for the rest of her life. Changing, making choices for the good of other people had been one of the hardest things she had to do in her life. But she had done it, she had placed her hopes and dreams in others, she had learned to love and now she was reaping the rewards.

She had changed her own story, she had redeemed herself and found a better path. There were still hard days, still days when she was tempted to make the easy choice, but she was getting used to the comfort of not having to worry about what evil thing would appear on main street next.

“Mrs. Mills.” She looked up at the man standing in the doorway. She may have chosen to no longer be the mayor, but she still had enough residual terror left in her to fit as the principal of the local high school. “The interview for the new PE teacher is sitting in the conference room.”

“I’ll be right there.” She replied as she placed her phone down on the desk and stood up. Summer was coming to an end, it was a bittersweet time of year. On one hand she was looking forward to the new school year, on the other it meant that the next few weeks would be unadulterated chaos as her staff and students fell into the routine of school once again.

She walked down the short corridor from her office to the conference room where they were waiting for her. The school was new, built within the last two years when the town had expanded beyond the need of a single school for all grade levels. She had always assumed when the barriers had been broken down and the flow of strange events came to a halt that her life would slow down. But it hadn’t, suddenly she found herself in more demand that she ever had been while she was a queen. But she had taken it all in stride, enjoying the new life which she had carved for herself.

She entered the conference room, her vice principal and two other teachers were sitting at one end of the conference table the new woman at the other end. The woman rose as Regina entered and looked her over. She was thirty maybe, her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, her athletic build visible underneath the light blouse which she was wearing.

“I’m Regina Mills, the Principal here at Storybrooke High.”

“Natalie Smith.” She said as she reached out a hand. Regina took it and felt a familiar spark run across her.

She had magic.

Regina knew for certain as she pulled away watching the woman who was biting at her lip out of hesitation. No doubt about it, Natalie Smith was a witch. Regina could feel it in the very air around her as she sat down and looked at the unassuming woman. She had known nearly every single witch and wizard that lived in the Enchanted Forest and the realms beyond it, she looked at Natalie trying to place her. It was possible that she had changed her face, that she had taken the image of someone else. She paid Regina no added attention, but surely Natalie Smith had also felt the magical presence of Regina. Yet she sat and answered questions with a smile on her face paying Regina no mind.

But Regina was mentally going through the list of witches she knew of her in her head. Baba Yaga, no she was too young that one always took the form of a crone. She knew there was a witch of the West, that had been her half-sister, but what about those of the East, North or South, she could be any one of those. She didn’t have the charms of seduction which Circe or Cassandra always eluded. She could be Lilith or Freya, or she had once heard tales even of a white witch. Still Regina looked at her with a small twinge of fear, not only wondering who she was but why she was here. They had almost four years of peace, the longest period of time since Emma came into town. A very large part of her wished that Natalie Smith was not a witch, she really didn’t want to relieve the town saving heroics which has been so frequent in her past.

In the end she hired the woman, she was desperate for the job to be filled anyways. But she nearly ran back to her office and slammed the door behind her as she reached across her desk for her phone and placed a call.

“We have a problem.” Regina said as she sank into the desk chair.

“Is it Henry?” Emma said on the other side.

“I just hired a witch as the new PE teacher.”

She could hear Emma breathing slowly. “A good witch?”

Regina didn’t know the answer to that. She had felt the woman’s magic, felt how incredibly powerful it was but she had not been able to tell whether or not it was light or dark magic. “I don’t know. I couldn’t tell.” She replied honestly.

“What’s her name?” The Sheriff asked.

“Natalie Smith.”

A small sound came out of Emma mouth. “Killian just hired her sister last week to work at the docks. I met her she seemed… normal. There’s two sisters, three of them all together.”

North, South, East the thoughts hung in Regina’s brain. “Is the sister a witch?”

“I don’t think so…. no”

Regina sighed. Her life was already as crazy as it could possibly be, she did not need anything thing to worry about. “We’ll have to keep an eye on them.”

“Yeah.” Emma whispered. “Regina I have to go.”

“Yeah sure.” Regina replied as she heard the call disconnect. This really was the last possible thing she needed in her life right now. But here is was, the next big challenge to the town. This time everything was different, and that terrified her.

**

“Henry.” He turned as his name was called, his phone still in his hand as he finished writing the text message. _So would I have gotten a tower of my own or would I have been locked in the dungeon?_ He sent off to Regina, hoping his mother would see the sarcasm in the statement. He turned to see them all waiting for him at the base of the castle.

Harris, Hubert and Hamish were jumping up and down excitedly. The three boys may have been identical but in recent years they had gracefully each formed into their own. They had seen a whole lot of castles in their time in Europe so far, most of them from behind the velvet rope of tours but he was still reminded that some of his friends on this trip with him had actually grown up in castles before making it to the sea side town of Storybrooke one way or another.

Still he was tiered, his body pumped full of coffee as he tried to compensate for the changes in time zones which they had crossed when they entered Prague. He looked up at the Gothic spires of the cathedral, it was a strange castle that stood over the city of Prague, more like a little collections of castles from different points in history which had decided to stick together on a hill rather than be built intentionally. That was in fact what they were, but many other castles and estates which he had seen so far had at least tried to stay with the same esthetic. Still he walked with the large group of school students as they followed their history teacher into yet another great hall.

“It’s all very Harry Potter isn’t it?” He turned to look at the girl who had moved to stand next to him. Priya Samra had moved to Storybrooke with her family from the West Coast a year and a half ago. She was half a head shorter than him but still her hand managed to whisper in his ear as they fell in alongside with the rest of the group around the railing.

“You’re said that about nearly everything we’ve seen on this trip.” Henry whispered as he looked into her dark eyes.

“Well it does.” She replied with a laugh. “I still can’t believe you hadn’t read those books until you met me.”

He said noting as they followed along down the hall, the dull tones of their French tour guide explaining the history of the hall to them but the teenagers paid him no mind. There was a lot of cultural things that Henry had missed out on when the town he had spent the first ten years of his life it was frozen in time with the exception of himself. In recent years he had discovered more books, TV shows and movies than he could count which had been missing from his childhood.

They walked together down the long corridor and up a set of stairs. The castles that they saw weren’t all the same like Priya thought. Henry could see the subtle difference in them, the more regional flares between the British and Germanic ones. But still they seemed to echo, even with their modern electric lights and tourists; they seemed to echo the world’s that he had read about and knew still existed in magical realms whose doorways were hidden by magic. The story book realities lived side by side with the modern world around them, but he was one of the few privileged people who knew that.

There was a warm feeling of comfort as he would see a set of crown jewels or an ornate velvet throne and he could imagine one of the many princesses and princes that he knew back home. He would snap a picture and send it off to Regina or David or Mary Margaret suggesting if it would have been something they would have had in a past life. He would look at the paintings and the tapestries, for so many years these things had been part of people’s daily lives, now they were adorning the walls of glorified museums, only to be looked at. Hundreds of year ago the realities of Kings and Queens had been the norm, he wondered if that modernization would ever occur in places like the Enchanted Forest.

In more recent years he had also often wondered if that was ever a life he could have led. He imagined that maybe he would have enjoyed living in a Castle rather than in a home in Storybrooke. His life would have been different, he knew that. The chances of his existing were possibly slim if Emma had never been sent to this realm. He doubted his mother would have never agreed to marry any sort of proper prince, but still he knew that she would have never met Neal. Everything would have turned out so differently if Regina had never cursed his grandparents. Sometimes it seemed impossible to imagine what it would have been like, other days it was easy to imagine never living in this realm without magic.

Maybe day in the future, if they ever managed to find a way back to the Enchanted Forest, maybe he would spend all the rest of his days in a castle. But walking through these halls, it seemed as if that lifestyle was only a relic of the past. And only a handful of friends knew about the countless world’s unseen, which existed in parallel harmony with this one.

“Alright you have an hour to explore the castle. We will met out in the square at two.” He heard this history teacher call out over the crowd.

They scattered to the winds as rousing freedom took them to fulfil their hearts desire. “I wonder if there are any old creepy old Saint body parts in the church?” He heard Hamish cry out as he ran off with his brothers.

Henry turned to Priya who was laughing at their obsessions with seeing gilded skeletons. “What do you want to see?”

She shrugged “Haven’t we seen enough old castles by now.” She replied with a roll of her eyes. Maybe they bored her but to Henry there was still something fascinating about each and every one of them.

“Hey I heard there was some Alchemists Lane do you want to go with us Henry.” He looked at Lily who had asked the pair. She was standing next to her current boyfriend Jason, who looked like a stereotypical wandering surfer with his sun bleached blonde hair rather than someone from New England.

Henry looked at Priya, she knew what years ago the two of them had gone out before, and while many other teenaged girls would be strange about such things she was not. Priya nodded her head. “I can’t believe you ever went out with her” She whispered into his ear as the followed Lily and Jason out into the courtyard and towards the row of medieval houses where many other classmates had also flocked to.

He shook his head at her as they entered the lane of small houses which seemed more like something out of a story book illustration than real life. It was a strange quaintness which seemed surreal, the knowledge that such a pictures place had really once existed and was not just solely the creation of movie magic. They walked through the street, going up into the houses were they could look at all different suits of armor and other medieval weapons.

“How primitive.” Priya muttered as she looked at the crossbow which you could try and fire. Henry said nothing other than to smile, he had seen firsthand how many of those old weapons worked, and he had even used some of them himself.

“So why is it called Golden Lane?” Jason asked as they walked around looking at the old weapons.

“Alchemy right?” Priya suggested. “There were trying to make the philosophers stone, it’s would let you live forever and turn any element into gold.”

Jason scoffed. “That seems like a waste of time.”

“I don’t know some strange things are possible if you only believe.” The girl who had only recently begun aging herself said as she looked at Henry knowingly.

“Have you heard of the story?” Came the thick accent of one of the triplet behind them. The two couples turned to see the three boys each with devilish grins on their faces.

“I thought you were going to look for Saints bones.” Lily said with a roll of her eyes.

“Apparent there is a whole Cathedral of bones outside of the city but I don’t know if we are going to be able to swing that way, after the Paris Catacombs incident-” Hebert began

Harris elbowed him in order to get him to stop. “So this guy apparent was living in the houses and rumor has it he sold everything he had for a book about magic.”

“Oh because magic is real.” Jason said with a roll of his eyes. The triplets have him a haughty look.

“Why don’t you ask Henry about this thoughts on that?” Hamish called out.

Henry shook his head that was not a conversation he wanted to have out in public. “Continue on with the story boys.”

“All right so-“Hamish began

“Everybody thought this guy was mad.” Hebert added

“But-one day there was a fire in house, like a huge explosion. And when the fire people came to set it out.” Harris said with his hands raised above his head, his eyes wide.

“They found the man inside, dead.” Hamish whispered.

“But in his hands.” Hubert whispered. “Was a piece of gold. Where did it come from… did he make it… that’s the big question?”

Priya laughed at him. “Or maybe he just had it all along.”

“Oh I don’t know. From what I understand if you are willing to sell your soul you can get just about anything from a dark wizard.” Harris said as he looked pointedly at Lily.

“Excuse me? Why are you looking at me?” She scoffed pointing at herself as they began to walk away from the collection of weapons and back down into the street. “Why don’t you ask Henry about that?”

Jason wrapped his arm around her protectively. “Oh leave Lily out of this. There is no such thing as magic.”

Priya laughed at him. “You’re just jealous becuase you’re a muggle.”

Lily looking at the other girl with a smile. “You’re a muggle too.”

“Yes.” Priya replied. “Sadly we all are.”

“That’s what they all say.” Henry replied in an instinctively whisper.

Lily reached out her leg and kicked him gently. “Oh go take some more notes about what your future castle is going to look like Henry Mills.”

“Hey” He laughed. “That is not what I have been doing on this trip.”

She laughed at him. “Yes it is. Come on Jason let’s go find something else to look at.” She replied with a smile as they turned away from the lane.

Henry sighed as he felt Priya take his hand as well leading him away from Golden Lane and into yet another part of the castle. He looked up at the castle, the mix of Roman to Baroque architecture. He wasn’t actively taking notes, but he couldn’t deny that he was thinking about what it would be like to live in a Castle.

**

Emma closed her phone with a heavy heart. The last thing she wanted was another trio of witches coming to town. It was inevitable, part of her was surprised it had been this long in fact since anything catastrophic had happened in Storybrooke and yet she felt very unwilling to take part in any hijinks. Still she knew that a very long time ago she and Regina had sat down and written out a list of all the people they knew of in other places who could still cause them any sort of a problem. She headed towards the library knowing that the list was hidden somewhere in the basement along with a collection of rather sensitive books that were not to be seen by any type of unknowing eyes.

The library was somewhat empty for midmorning, and Emma walked right behind the desk knowing that everyone in this town knew exactly who she was and would hardly stop her from doing anything. “What do you think you’re doing?”

She turned and looked at the brown haired girl who she did not recognize but she could sense her. A warm aura of magic which surrounded the woman. It had to be the third sister. “Emma Swan, sheriff.”

“Oh.” She said as Emma turned around, a flash of embarrassment coming across her face. “I’m Darcy Smith the new librarian. Can I help you?”

“There are some record in the basement I need to look at.” She said with a sweet smile.

“Do you want me to get them for you?”

Emma shook her head. “No thank you but I can do it myself.” She replied as she watched the woman slowly walk away, yet still looking at her. Emma continued around the back corner to the staircase which lead down to the basement. Darcy had seemed honest in her intentions but there was still something which bother Emma about her. With Regina she could always sense the echo of the dark magic she had once held, even with Henry there were moments when she felt the powerful white magic he would one day show. But Darcy had been different, like fire and ice completing and neither winning. There was the possibility of light and there was the possibility of darkness within her as well.

Emma distended down to the basement, quickly finding the book she was looking for. But there was no mention of a trio of sisters within it or anyone else who seemed to match the description of the women she had learned of so far. Disappointed in her findings Emma headed back up to the library where she found Darcy sitting on the floor next to Neal reading to him as Mary Margaret looked on with a smile on her face.

Emma stood next to her mother watching the interaction with a small giggle. “She’s good with him.” Mary Margaret whispered into her ear as they stood off unseen.

_She’s a witch._ Emma was tempted to tell her mother flat out, but that seemed like the wrong decision. “Yes she is.” She replied, an idea dawning on her. The least she could do, justifiably that was, as the Sherriff was to keep an eye on the new witch who had come into town. She watched Darcy read to the boy with animated expressions, waiting until he had left before she approached her again.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” She asked Emma as she approached.

“Sort of.” Emma replied. “You’re very good with kids, are you an eldest child?”

She laughed as she shook her head. “Youngest of four actually.”  

“Well I have two little girls and my husband and I both work. Would you be interest in watching them sometime?”

Darcy looked at her with an open mouth. “Sure, why not.” She replied.

Emma was oddly relieved to use her own children as pawns, but she also knew that this was a very easy way to keep tabs on someone who was clearly hiding something.


	4. Circumvent

_Storybrooke, 2017_

Addison leaned against the stacks of the library books watching as Lucy unloaded the cart. “Wait what are you saying?” She muttered

“That this is all about you know who isn’t it?” Caroline replied briskly.

Addison laughed. “Voldemort?”

“I swear to God if that is real I am going to be pissed I never got to go to Hogwarts.” Lucy said with a shake of her head as she slammed her hand down on the cart.

“Oh course you would be.” Caroline said with a roll of her eyes.

“Hey you may not have been around for my eleventh birthday, I definably spent most of the day waiting for an owl to appear with my Hogwarts letter.”  Lucy answered as she placed the books on the shelf somewhat angrily.

Caroline shook her head. “No this is about the non-evil you know who.” Henry was who she meant silently, as she conveyed with a singular nod of her head. “In every version of the legend that we can find King Arthur always dies, or is near death and sent to Avalon to one day return.”

It was true, in nearly every single adaptation the titular hero had died, leaving behind the promise of what he was trying to conquer. “You think that he’s trying to change the story, finally giving him a solid victory.”

Caroline nodded. “He’s changed stories before, or at least he has with the help of others. I think that is what we are trying to do here. Find something that will kill Mordred without killing Arthur in the process. Or are we looking for the Holy Grail?”

“Okay, but why the past element. Was it on purpose, was it an accident? Are we supposed to do something which changes the story for good while we are in this time?” Addison began as she looked at her sisters hopelessly. “He told us to come here and get something, but what?”

“I don’t know.” Caroline whispered. She looked at the books, they had read nearly every single tale and they had memorized and compared with what was written and what had happened. But this was uncharted territory, it wasn’t just the legends of King Arthur that were part of their lives, it was all the other stories as well which crossed forming a tangled web. “Do you think we should ask for help?”

Lucy shook her head. “From who? Would you believe it? If some walked up to you one day and said ‘Hi I’m your daughter from twenty five years in the future and I need your help because in a few years your son is going to meet King Arthur and become involved in creating Camelot, and I’m here in some weird reverse Connecticut Yankee situation.’ You real think she would believe that?” She shook her head.

“Mom believed Henry all those years ago.” Addison whispered. “She believed him enough to come here and start this whole thing.”

Lucy ran a hand through her hair. “Don’t you think there would have been hints? I mean all those years of hearing of that story is wrong, or no the little mermaid doesn’t happen like that. You would have thought there would have been hints to ‘oh I met you before when you time traveled back to town and I helped you save the day.’”

“Or at least they would know.” Caroline whispered. “The Mom and Dad we left behind when we came here. They would have known how to deal with situations they are facing in our own time. They wouldn’t have been surprised at the Battle of MacCal, they wouldn’t have reacted the way they did when all this began to happen. I don’t think they can learn who we really are. I think that we have to come and go and spend our time here and only been known as the Smith sisters.”

“That’s not going to be easy.” Addison said with a shake of her head.

“No its not, but then again it never really has been.” Caroline replied with a small smile.

Lucy looked at her and nodded in agreement, they had the foresight of the future to know how much they could affect any sort of change upon this world they had come to now. “Then I guess we have some research to do in was to stop some by like Mordred.” She said with a small voice.

~~~

_Storybrooke, 2040_

There was a knock on the door. Lucy stood walking briskly over to the door, the summer air blasting in her face as she looked at the man who stood before her.

“Roland.” She said in a small whisper. She had been expecting him for some time now, knowing full well that one day the time would come when he would appear on her doorstep calling her adventurous life which she had never lived. She moved as side so that he could enter the house. His clothes were worn and covered with scorch marks. The armor that he wore was light, the focus more on the protective arm plates rather than anything else. He was a dragon rider, his need protection from burns rather than stabs to the heart. “It’s bad isn’t it?” She added in a small whisper as he sat down on the sofa.

She had gotten used to the strange juxtaposition of a man from what looked like the past sitting on her sofa. She had seen them all now with their swords and tiaras, it had become commonplace among the people who had chosen to go and fight. But Lucy had chosen to stay, she had never been as draw to the worlds of magic as any of her siblings. So she had stayed in Storybrooke, even after both her parents had gone off to help in the fighting.

“We need you.” He muttered, he looked exhausted as if he could fall asleep with the snapping of fingers. He ran a hand through his dark hair, he looked rather like his father now that he was an adult with the exception of his dark curls.

“What about Caroline?”

He shook his head. “Henry says that he needs both of you to help?” He replied a British accent slipping out as he said the word both. “I know that you choose this world-”

“I didn’t choose _this_ world.” She corrected him. “Why does everybody think that you have to choose one world of the other? I simply live here, and go back and forth. Why is that so hard for everybody to comprehend? I mean that’s what….” But she stopped there really was nobody else who had chosen a similar path as Lucy had.

Roland looked up at her with a small sigh. He a chosen to go back to the world in which he had been born with in his mid-twenties, his brother Charlie following him a few years later when they learned of the Dragons which were once again finding a home within the Enchanted Forest. While both brothers had chosen to call the Enchanted Forest their home, their parents had stayed in Storybrooke, untill a few months prior when they had finally managed to get an edge on Morguse. Now they were struggling to find a way to end the witch who was threatening to once again threaten everything that Arthur and Henry had struggled to build in the years since Morgan le Fay had died.

She remembered the sacrifices and promises which had been made on the night when Morgan died. She hadn’t liked the outcome of that event, even now almost seven years later there were still days when she was reeling from the sacrifices which had been made. People had played their parts in the story that was all they could do. Play your part and hope you make a right choice, now it was her turn to play her part.

“When do you need me to go?” Lucy whispered. She wasn’t about to be the only sibling who was going to abandon the cause when her entire family had joined together to fight for the realms.

He looked at her with half a smile, as if he had been worried that she was going to put up a fight. She had hoped that after all these years he would have known better. She may have isolated herself in the world of academics, she may have used a man’s last words to her to justify staying in the world without magic, but she would never turn her back on her family.

“Soon.” He said gently but he really meant today.

“Let me pack.” Lucy said as she stood up and went downstairs to the room which had always been hers.

It had changed in the years in which she had lived in the nursery. It had once had walls adorned with childish things, now its walls were painted a mossy shade of green, covered with replicas of famous painting and manuscripts. She had always been bookish, studious, that was reflected in the bedroom which she had lived in all her life. She had always known there would come a day in which the room would no longer be associated with her, when just like the bedrooms upstairs it would slowly be turned more into office or storage space, but she had never imagined that she would have to leave her childhood home like this.

The castle by the sea would be left empty as the last princess left home for the stranger world which was contained behind a single door. She would be heading to her parents homeland, to the seas which her father had once traveled, and yet she felt no welcome connection to them at all. She was a witch, everyone who had ever met her had assumed that it was in those places where magic was known that she could come to reside, and yet Lucy had never been bothered by carrying about the secret of her magic as she roamed the halls of Harvard. She had carried around so many family secrets from such a young age that her own seemed to be of no concern to her at all.

She grabbed a duffle bag, choosing only the clothes which she knew would blend into the world which she would be traveling to as the stuffed it mostly with books. Spell books and reference books which she had collected from all different worlds. She took one last look around her bedroom, trying her best to memorize the room as the sunlight filtered in brightly though the window. She would be returning, she knew that, but she feared that it would be forever until she was back.

She went upstairs, Roland bouncing as she returned up the stairs. She followed him, not saying anything as she left the house which she had lived her entire life in with a heavy heart. He drove her out to the mansion tucked away in the wilderness, parking the car in the garage as they entered. The house was dark and quiet, as it nearly always was. The doors to realms lining the long corridors with little flash or circumstance only the symbols on them giving any clue to their destination.

They walked silently down the corridors of the House of Doors, until they finally reached the one in question. Deep mahogany wood with vines and branched carved into it, behind that door was the world where fairy tales were a part of daily life. Roland gave her a small nod, as she placed her hand on the cold metal handle and opened the door.

The unassuming forest did not beckon to her as she looked at it. It seemed like nearly every other fir tree laden forest she had ever seen in her entire life, and yet she knew how different this one was. She had only ever been there on rare occasion, Addison coronation and wedding, the occasional formal ceremony, a single misguided family vacation. She closed her eyes, taking a long breath as she stepped into the forest, letting go of her homeland behind her as Roland shut the door.

She followed him as he moved swiftly about the woods, he knew them like the back of his own hand. She could hear the creature moving within the woods, and from the lack of fear on his face she knew it to be one of his dragons, they were in this realm the fastest non-magical way to travel. She looked up at the pale creature, large and monstrous yet it let out a pleasant call as it saw Roland. He helped her climb aboard the dragon as they took to the skies. Lucy feeling the wind whip through her body she felt little relief as she saw her sister’s castle come into view. As they landed in the courtyard she looked up at the turrets and spires. This was her life now, and she never knew if she was going back.

Familiar faces were all around her as she looked at those who saw no magnificence in the dragon which had just landed in the courtyard of the castle. It was strange to her how what was so common place in one land would be so wholly alien in another. If dragons had landed in Boston there would be a full on military assault accompanied by several days’ worth of news coverage, but show a person in the Enchanted Forest a computer and they would likely think you to be the greatest wizard to ever live. Still, she dismounted grabbing onto her pack to see before her the man who was in fact considered to be the greatest wizard of the day.

To her the man who would be written down in history under the name Merlin was simply her older brother. She had never been in awe of Henry, she had always come to know him in a more intimate light than most other people. There was a seventeen year age difference between them and yet Henry had always been a kind and gentle older brother. Giving her the attention she had needed in the times in which she had seen him.

Lucy was the only one of her siblings who had ever only known Henry as the wizard which he now was. Her earliest memories of him were watching him perform magic for her in secret behind adult’s backs. She may have been ten when her parents had sat her down and formally told her that magic was real, but she had known in secret for years before then all because of Henry. By the time she was six he was mostly living in Camelot, struggling to understand his own role in the stories of King Arthur.  But he had always been her brother.

Lucy laughed as she watched the crowds be more impressed with the presence of Henry than the dragon as he walked up to her and embraced her casually.

“Good to see you Luce.” He smiled as he whispered in her ear. “Thank you for helping.”

She nodded as she looked at him, he had been fighting in a war which had gone on for nearly two decades. it had been a slow war,  going years between new foes making themselves know yet it had become his life and she assumed that was something which he had never imagined all those years ago when he meet his random roommate.

“Whatever you need me to do Henry, I will try my best.”

He nodded, his arm around her shoulder as he led her into the interior of their sister’s castle. “I’m glad to hear that.” He replied. “Have you been reading different versions of the legends?”

They were both studious, they had that in common. She nodded, Henry had always read her the stories of King Arthur and his knights when she was little. He had let her believe them to be stories and stories alone until she was old enough to begin to see the truth in the world.

The siblings believed they were at an advantage when it came to trying to successfully unite Camelot. The stories of King Arthur were widespread and varied in the Earth they had grown up in. Most of the fairytales which were true had a few mentions, a handful of adaptations, but with Arthurian Legend there was hundreds of years’ worth of material for them to pour over. It had been a well cultured interest for Lucy, one which was to their advantage.

“I have.” She replied. “But they all seem to end the same, even the most hopeful of endings simply imply that the story will repeat itself in due course, but there are almost no adaptations in which Arthur survives.”

“I know.” Henry breathed. The man had been his close friend for nearly a quarter century, and though he knew Arthur was likely willing to sacrifice himself if necessary he prayed that he could circumvent the situation. “What about this Mordred?” Lucy could feel her face twisting. Henry laughed. “That bad huh?”

“What is he like? I mean… the stories differ about his relationship to Arthur. In some he is his illegitimate son…”

Henry shook his head. “No, he was knight in the service of Camelot. But after Morguse died he claims to want revenge.”

“Then he is likely her son.” Lucy replied. “That seems to be the other common relation. And he betrayed you, he turned on the other knights.”

Henry nodded. “Betrayal seems to be synonymous to the name.”

“As well as his mortally wounding Arthur.” She added in a whisper. “Henry I don’t know if you really can avoid Avalon.”

“We have to.” He said in a small whisper and she saw the reflection of their mother in him, Henry wanted to be the savior he wanted to save everyone who was kind a just. “We need to find a way to kill him before he can place a sword in Arthur. That’s why I need you hear Lucy, I need your extra help in this.”

She looked at him, unconvinced but willing to help.  

~~~

_Boston, 2017_

The plane landed with a sharp jolt. Henry looked out of the window seeing the landscape of the nation which he called his home once again. He was tiered and exhausted from his trip, he had seldom ever felt this wiped out before. But as the plane pulled into the gate he knew that he would have only a few precious days before he would begin school once again.

They got off the plane more quietly they had when they had boarded it for their trip three weeks ago. Tensions and run high in those weeks, friends had gotten on each other’s nerves, couples had come to the verge of breaking up, sleeping faces had been drawn on and inside jokes were formed. But secretly there were all glad to be back home.

Some of them ran ahead, brushing past security and down to the baggage claim where they found waiting parents. But Henry stayed back, watching as his friends brushed past back to their loved ones. Lily was standing still not nothing as he came to stand next to her.

She hadn’t come to this realm alone, but via circumstance she had been left here alone. She didn’t have parents any more, she was growing up experiencing something new which was strange and scary to her. “You should go Henry, they’ll be waiting for you.” The girl with no family whispered to the boy who had almost too much.

“You have to go to Lily, you can’t live in an airport.” He whispered. She turned and looked at him with desperation which conveyed her wish to very much stay it the airport forever. “You and Hana got in a fight again.” He added in a small whisper.

“I’m going to laugh so hard when you finally get in a fight with Roland one day.”

“Why Roland?”

“He’s older.” She sighed “Sometimes I think that we would get in half as many fights if I was still going out with you.”

He laughed. “Really Lily. Let’s see you once held an axe to my father’s throat, but then again he used to kidnap you, and I’m pretty sure that you have kissed my great grandfather and probably my birth father. I would have never worked out in the end Lily.”

Her face was filled with sadness. “She just acts like she knows everything about growing up sometimes. I mean aren’t I older than her in reality.”

“Maybe. But she wasn’t perpetually a child for a long time. She’s done the whole growing up thing before.”

She looked at him sharply, her round eyes crying out for his understanding. She had always felt so alone in this world, and he had been nice to her, kind to her even when he didn’t have to be. “Is growing up always this hard?”

He laughed, wanting to tell her that they were both doing this at the same pace at the moment. “I don’t know, this is the first time I’ve done it.”

She scoffed. “Grownups think they know everything.”

“I don’t think they know everything, I think they just how to fake it better.”

She laughed. “We’ll get the hang of this one day right?”

“Right.” He whispered as they both stepped forward and past the security gate.

As to be expected a small crowd was waiting for him. They hugged him as if he had been away for three years rather than three weeks. He watched as Lily went over to Hana, the two women making up as if nothing wrong had ever happened between them.

“Did you get me a puppy?” Caroline called out as she stood at Henry’s feet as they waited for his bags.

He looked down at her shaking his head. “No. you’ll have to wait till we get home to see what you got.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Yeah well I get to make the rules.” Henry snapped at her. He was going to miss her in a few years’ time when he went off to college. He was going to miss all of his large and crazy family.

“Oh gezze.” Emma said as she lifted his suitcase off the conveyer belt. “Did you smuggle a princess back from Europe in your suitcase Henry?”

He laughed as he helped her with it. “No.” He replied sheepishly. It was rather heavy, but at least he wasn’t like some of the boys on his trip who had come back with a new wardrobe composed of clothes from Zara. “Where’s Dad?”

“You know where he is the Friday before Labor Day weekend. Out on a barge somewhere in the bay, scarring me half to death that he is going to blow himself to death as he helps set up the fireworks.”

It had become a tradition, fireworks in the bay for nearly every summer holiday, “Couldn’t you just tell him not to do it?”

She looked at him with a long sigh as she began to push the stroller containing Addison out of the terminal. “Kid, I would be lying if I told you I expected all the recklessness to stop when we settled down. Besides there are worse things he could be doing.”

Henry was quiet as they walked to the car, he helped get both Addison and Caroline into their seats in the back of the SUV before he sat up in the front. The car ride was long as they slowly inched their way out of Boston and up northwards. On a good day it would take an hour and a half to get to Storybrooke but the Friday before a long weekend was not a good day.

“I see that you were house hunting a bit over in Europe.” Emma laughed as they finally made it past the congestion of the city.

Henry laughed. “Well you know.”

“I really liked photo of Buckingham Palace titled my future home.”

He snickered. “You told me to find a princess.”

“Not one who is the same age as your little sister.” She laughed hitting her hand on the steering wheel. “Are you glad you went?” She added in a more serious tone.

He nodded. “Are you?”

“Yes Henry I am glad that you are beginning to make your way in the world. Now sleep while you can because when you get home there will be a sideshow presentation to the family of this expensive European vacation you took.”

“Uh mom, can’t it wait till tomorrow, it’s already like nine ‘o’clock at night to me.”

“Oh like you can’t stay up late.” She laughed and they were silent the rest of the way home.

A few hours later they all sat in the living room, his large an extended family looking at the snapshots of his vacation. It seemed like an archaic way to share the memories but he didn’t mention that.  “Okay what country are we in now?” Regina asked as she watched the images float by on the television screen.

“Germany.” Emma replied as she watched the images of Henry standing outside various placed in various poses.

"Oh and that is the Castle of Neuschwanstein." He said as they saw the image of the castle with its large turrets and towers atop a hill.

“Okay now that looks like something we would have had in the forest.” Robin remarked as he passed by a few images of Henry standing on a bridge with the castle behind him.

“Yeah and it was built by a mad King, so you know….” Henry suggested “It would have fit right in.”

Caroline was looking at all the laughing adults as if they were mocking her. She looked at Henry with tears swimming in her eyes as she asked loudly "Why are they dying?"

Henry looked at her with a furrowed brow. "What are you talking about?" He asked her gently as the photos changed behind him.

"Were they sick?” She asked again. Her small face full of worry.

Emma looked at her daughter who was on the verge of tears. “Caroline honey what do you mean?”

Her small body was beginning to shake with frustration as nobody seemed to understand why she was so worried. “But if the swans were new why were they dying?" she cried out impossibly worried.

They all laughed. "Oh Caroline it's not New Swans Dying castle, it Neuschwanstein Castle. It’s just a silly name.” her mother said scooping her up into her arms.

 She looked up at her mother with a pout on her face, “So no swans were dying?”

“No Caroline.” Henry laughed as he continued to show them pictures about the adventures he had.

**

“Caroline don’t run off.” Kilian called out as his daughter darted into the forming crowd, pushing past people to make her way to the front of the cliff.

From somewhere within the forming crowd the three older Swan sisters watched as little Caroline pushed to the front of the railing against where the road ended against the edge of the cliff. They each stood back standing alongside the trees as they watched the crowd slowly form.

The sky was just beginning to turn dark even though it was well past eight o clock at night. The families gathered in light jackets and mugs full of coffee as the temperatures dropped. It was the last Sunday night of the summer, and soon the sky would be filled with light as the fireworks went off over the bay like they had for the past three years.

It was a growing tradition, with the crowd forming down along the bay and up in the streets above on the cliffs which over looked at it. There was laughter as stories were told, as children swapped tales of their summer adventures as teenage couples waited for nightfall before kissing in the darkness of the summer night.

For Caroline, Addison and Lucy it was strange to be taking part of something which two of them had missed many times in recent years. They had grown up with the fireworks, with the sounds of laughter as people from all walks of life gathered in the streets to look up to the skies for half an hour as they celebrated the coming of the winter months. But here in the darkness they blended in well with the crowd of characters and normal people.

In their time, in the place which they had come from whispered would have followed in their wakes.  “Is that…” and “I think it must be” as well as the “Isn’t she a Queen now.” The sisters would have pulled their caps down over their heads, and stood side by side as they returned to Storybrooke to watch the skies above them light up.

“Caroline.” Emma sighed as she chased after her daughter who was climbing up a light post to get a better view of the bay. She pulled the little girl down and dragged her back to where Killian was standing with Addy in his arms. “The fireworks are in the sky, it won’t matter if you can see the bay or not.”

“But I can’t see the sky from back here.” She whined as she swung her arms back and forth. Emma sighed, wondering what all the townspeople must have thought. She knew that they sometimes spoke about her behind her back. That those who had not known her as a savior must have spoken some unsavory words about her. It was all half a truth which she had told them, people knew that Henry had been her son that she had been eighteen and unmarried with Henry had been born. That she had given him up and come back ten years later, to have another family with Killian.

They must have thought of her as absolutely wild, as the woman who could have never in a million years be the sister of kind Mary Margaret Nolan. Well she wasn’t, she was her daughter, but that couldn’t be easily explained. Besides out of all of her children it was only Caroline who had any sort of a wild streak. And as they had discovered when she was a year and a half old she did have the perfect name to shout angrily across the house, and it was frequently heard by others exclaiming.

“Caroline James Swan.” Kilian began sternly bending down to look her in the eye. “Have Henry take you up to the front, but I don’t want to see you causing any trouble.” She beamed as she ran off once more into the crowd, her older brother trailing after her.

“Daddy up.” Addison cried out in her small voice. She would be two in October.

“Not yet, wait until we get closer to starting.” Killian whispered. He leaned in to hold his wife’s hand with the one he had only recently got back.

It seemed strange to him to reminisce on what his life had been like before all of this. He would have never imagined that this was the shape of things to come, that this would be the life he would end up leading. The sky was darkening and he looked out across the crowd at those who had come to know him as a worse person than he had once been and those who had only known him in the form his life now held. This was his happy ending, he would have never imagined it but he knew it to be true. He saw the three Smith sisters standing by the trees looking out over the bay and talking in gentle whispers. Emma had told him what Regina had said, that the eldest girl Natalie was a witch. If she really was he was grateful that they had not caused any trouble in the last few weeks which she had been in Storybrooke, yet still he looked at them laughing wondering if there really was anything for him to worry about.

Addison had gone out on the barges earlier in the day, she never been out on the barges before. She had stood on the edges of the shore and watched the Labor Day fireworks celebration most of her life, but she had never experienced the first hand panic that went on. She had been on pirate ships with volatile men before, but never before on one which such explosives. Everything was a carefully orchestrated experience in where to step, where to breathe as the wires and fireworks were put in place. Hours upon hours of work went into something which would only last a few minutes. On one hand it hardly seemed worth it.

But she remembered them so vividly. The colors in the sky which marked the end of summer, the fizzle, the color the anticipation of the bang of sound. She had stood watching them, her head craned upwards to the sky time and time again.

There had been fireworks on the day of her coronation. They had fluttered out across the water’s which surrounded her castle. The golden embedded had glimmer across the still waters as they fell down in a cascading whoosh. She had been fourteen then, her family by her side, every single one of them thinking she was too young to take control of a forest. But Addison had told them that her age was not important, that it wouldn’t matter if she had been fourteen or twenty when she finally took over. That it would be easier if she just assumed power then, and not had someone sit keeping the throne for her for a few years.

She had watched the fireworks that night, bursting till the moon lowered in the sky and the dawn threatened to come. Her parents and stood beside her, not voicing their concerns but expressing them through wordless glare at one another. And then they had left, tears in their eyes as they left Caroline and Addison in the Enchanted Forest and returned back to Storybrooke with Lucy.

She wished that she could tell her father now as he chased after Caroline through the crowd that it would be okay. That all his daughters would end up alright in the end. That nearly fourteen years later she was still as beloved as a queen as she had been the day she was coordinated. That there was nothing to worry about, except maybe there was. The father who she had left behind, the one whose hair had turned grey and whose shoulders were beginning to stoop was probably pacing back and forth somewhere. Unsure of what had happened to his daughters, unsure of how to help them. That was the man who needed the reassurances, not the father she saw before her now.

Lucy winced as she took a swig from the flask. “Oh that is horrible.” She said as she passed it back to Addison. The burn and rancid taste of the liquor still clinging to her mouth as she squirmed.

Caroline was laughing at her younger sister as she watched Addison take a nonchalant swig. “Uh… do you remember that stuff we drank the night before your wedding?” She shuddered.

Lucy nodded. “Uh it was black and it smelled so bad, like eggs.”

“It did not.” Addison replied.

“You have a very strange relationship with liquor Ad.” Caroline said as she took another sip of the flask with a sharp throw of her head.

“Watch what you are saying.” Addison said as she took the flask from Caroline.

“You’re the one drinking within ten feet of the Sheriff.” Lucy replied.

“That’s what people do on Labor Day, I thought you would both know that.” Addison replied as she leaned against the tree.

She remembered her wedding day vividly. Her long white dress, hair billowing out behind her as she stepped out into the courtyard the entire court watching her as she made her way down the aisle on her father’s arm. He had though that she was too young to get married, to young and foolish and running into things, but there was no talking Addison out of it. She was glad now that nobody had managed to talk either woman out of marrying one another.

The crown on her head had felt like nothing at all as she made her way down the aisle to the raised platform. She stood there waiting as her music finished and then Olivia came in. There dresses were similar in styles, but where Addison had designs of blue waves creeping up her dress like veins Olivia a trumpet gown with layers of tulle at her feet and a golden broidered bodice of birds and flowers.

Addison had been breathless as she watched Olivia glide towards her dark hands wrapped around a bouquet of flowers, her own brown hair blowing in the breeze. The two women only had eyes for the other as they stood together side by side in their white dresses.

The ceremony had been formal, full of words which Addison could not remember as the officiant had drowned on and on. But finally the moment came when both women said their vows, and then so many things had to be exchanged. Rings were the first thing, Addison placing her Grandmothers green gemstone ring on Olivia hand, Olivia placing her own family ring of a deep blue stone on Addison left hand. They there had been the cloaks, two ceremonial cloaks which they had never worn against except for that day. They combined the symbols of each woman’s family heritage, as well as Addison title of the Queen of the Seas. And then with one final last as Addison placed the Crown with Olivia would come to wear on her head.

It was different from the one which Addison wore. Olivia was more of a simple diadem of her own choosing, a circlet of the rope and vines pattern which formed the base of Addison crown, but without the upwardly reaching pattern of anchors and trees. And finally when that had been done, when they had kissed and signed the certificate they turned around and faced the crowd.

They had debated for weeks on what Olivia’s title would be. There had never really been any lesbian Queens before who had been given the opportunity to marry a woman. But Addison knew that all her life she had never followed any rules other than those which she made for herself.

“If I was a man they would call you a Queen.” Addison had muttered two night before the wedding.

“But you’re not a man?” Olivia and replied.

“No, but I am the Queen and so are you.” Had been her response.

And so they stood and faced the crowd full of family members, subjects, and pirates in various states of dress and we’re introduced formally. Queen Addison of the Enchanted Forest and all the Seas, and Queen Olivia of the Enchanted Forest, Lady of the Seas.

The party had lasted till dawn, and there had been fireworks too on that night once again over shining over the place waters as they had done on her coronation day.

Now Addison looked up at the dark sky as the fireworks began, Lucy was holding her hand, but she wished that it was Olivia by her side. All she could do was wish, and keep on wishing that this adventure would soon be over and she could wear her crown on her head once more.


	5. Confidant

_Storybrooke, 2017_

Caroline sat down in the staff room, placing her lunch on the table before her. She had never been any sort of a teacher before and she didn’t know why Addison had suggested the job to her. Sure she was physically capable of making students run laps or instructing them on how to play a game of volleyball but there were other aspects of this job which she was simply not in the mood to deal with.

Still somehow she had managed to get to lunch on Friday afternoon and she sat down her fellow colleagues giving her soft smiles as they looked at the wiped out woman. “It gets easier.” One of the male math teachers said to her as she began to unwrap a sandwich.

“Really.” Addison muttered as she looked at it somewhat pathetically.

“Yeah. It just takes a while to find the rhythm again.” He said with a smile “I’m Mitch Walker.”

“Natalie Smith.” She said with a smile.

“Are you new this year or have you been here before?”

“I’m new, what about you?” She asked him, hoping that she could at least manage to make a few friends while at work.

“Oh I’m new too.” He said somewhat disappointed. “I just…” He paused leaning in towards her. “I have the Mills kid for homeroom and I was wondering about him.”

“Henry Mills.” Susan Taler, a middle aged history teacher said as she overheard the conversation. “Oh you don’t know that whole situation then if you’re new then, do you?”

Mitch gave her a small nod as he leaned in towards her. “I can’t make heads of it, I was looking over his contact info and there are two families listed. Regina obviously the principal, and then somebody named Swan.”

“Okay so here’s the story.” Taler began.

Caroline was aware that suddenly every other teacher in the room seemed to be listening in. “Should you know this?” She asked meekly at the older woman.

“Oh everybody knows, this isn’t classified or anything.” She replied looking at Caroline. She turned back to Mitch with a smile on her face. “So Henry’s birth mother is Emma Swan, who is now the Sheriff. But the story goes she met this guy when she was eighteen, not exactly the best guy in the world and he ended up getting her in jail and pregnant. So Henry was born when she was in jail, not that you would ever be able to tell. She ended up placing him up for adoption and he came here and was adopted by Regina. But it gets better. Ten years later, Swans cleaned up her act and she comes to live with her sister Mary Margaret Nolan, and Henry learns that she’s the real mother. So I guess some things went down personally and eventually they came to an agreement where they shared custody of Henry.”

“But there’s two guys listed as well, is one of them the real father?” Mitch asked.

Taler shook her head. “No the real father is dead, but about three years ago both women got married and now have other children. It’s very complicated. So the only biological child Regina has is her son Charlie who was born this past spring, but her husband Robin also has a child, Roland from a previous relationship. Emma Swan, has three children Henry from the prison guy, and then she had two girls Caroline and Addison with her husband Killian. And the most confusing part of all is that Henry calls all of them Mom and Dad and you never know which set of parents he is talking about. I surprised that boy can keep it all straight in his head.”

“But he’s a normal kid, no acting out or anything because of the family situation?” Mitch asked.

Taler shook her head. “As normal and upstanding as could be. I mean he probably will end up going to some big college, but the family situation will just give you a headache. And at least… I will say this the two couples are completely supportive and helpful. There is no resentment, no bitterness between them. I mean all four parents will show up to back to school night and conferences and anything else that kid has going on in his life. But man, it makes my head spin.”

Caroline sat back and listened to them talking. She had never heard the outside perspective on what her family was like. To her it was simply the way things had always been, she accepted that, but she was fascinated to hear what the teachers all had to say about Henry. It almost made her wonder what they had once said about her when she was this age. Most likely nothing half as nice, she had been a rather wild teenager.  She was very curious to know what Mrs. Taler would be saying about her in ten years’ time.

“Okay what about Lily Palmer, she’s a little…”

“Wild.” Caroline laughed.

“Oh wouldn’t say wild.” Mitch replied. “Just moody and misguided.

“No parents there. I never managed to find out what happened it’s just her and the older sister Hana.” Someone else replied.

“She’s going out with Jason Mazouki.” One of the teachers standing by the coffee pot added.

“Who needs a haircut? Seriously I thought he was a girl the other day.” The secretary piped up.

“Didn’t she go out with Henry Mills?”

“Yeah they broke up after Christmas.”

Caroline laughed as she looked around them all. Mitch turned to her. “You haven’t taught in a high school before have you?”

“No I haven’t.” She muttered “I just didn’t know that you were aware of who students were dating and all.”

Mitch chucked as he reached across the table and took a chip out from one of the community bowls. “Believe me, it comes in handy to know who’s with who.”

“I’ll have to keep that in mind.” Caroline replied with a smile as she finished her lunch, beginning to think a little more highly of the job which she had been bequeathed.

**

“Oh so what you’re all zero to hero now.” Addison said as she hopped down off of the boat as she watched Lucy standing on the docks tapping her foot impatiently.

“I was asked to help out.” Lucy said as she handed her a length of rope.

Addison rolled her eyes at her younger sister. “Somehow I don’t believe you.”

Lucy sighed. “Look she called me and asked I would babysit.” Addison shook her head, it still didn’t seem right that Lucy was going to help babysit her younger self. “I mean clearly I’m not going to go drop you on your head or poison you or anything.” She added.

Addison knew that it was probably harmless. She knew that Emma had asked her because she had the most flexible hours out of all of them and perhaps it was a sign that they were beginning to accept the sisters as a normal part of the town. At least that was what she was telling herself. “Just keep your eyes open.” Addison whispered as she hopped back onto the boat.

Lucy gave her a small nod of her head as she left the docks. It was strange to go off and watch her younger older sisters.  Part of her felt strange having the responsibility, but she tried to look past it all too just simply imagine that she would be watching two normal little girls, noting wrong with that at all.

She pulled the motorcycle into the familiar driveway and dismounted trying to remember that she wasn’t Lucy Swan in this moment, she was Darcy Smith and this was completely normal. She rang the doorbell, pulling her coat in closer towards her body as she waited for someone to ring the door.

She tilted her head looking in through the window, the lights were on and yet... She rang the doorbell once more. “The doors open, come in.” She heard her mother call out. She stepped into the house which was so familiar and yet so different. It reminded her starkly of the fact that she had in fact gone back in time when the house she saw before her was one which she had only seen in photographs. “Downstairs.”

The pictures which lined the staircase were different from the ones which would adorn it in a few years. Some had never changed; her parents wedding photo, the one of Mom and Henry when she had met him for the first time, the posed baby photos of Addison and Caroline. She was still a year away from even begin born, it was painfully obvious as she walked downstairs to see the small faces of her sisters look up at her as she entered the den.

They still looked like Caroline and Addison, she could see the adults that she knew so well as brief impressions on the young girls. But they looked at her as if she was someone entirely brand new, which she was to them in the twisted turn of events.

“Hello. I’m Darcy.” She said pushing back at her hair as they looked up at her and then turned their attention back to the television.

“Girls say hello to Darcy.” Emma said as she came out from the kitchen with a mug of coffee in her hand, struggling to put her hair up with one hand. She was wearing a suit and a frantic expression.

“Hi.” They both called out in high voices not paying her any attention.

Emma shrugged as she turned her attention to Lucy. “Thank you for doing this on such short notice. I wasn’t supposed to go to Boston till next week, but the trial dates got moved up.”

“What trial?”

“Oh it’s nothing I’m just need to make some statements. Umm… phone numbers are on the wall by the glass door, if anything happens call Killian then Mary Margaret. Henry is with Regina tonight so he won’t be a problem. Killian should be home around five, can you make them lunch?”

She nodded rapidly. “Yeah that’s fine.”

“Okay.” Emma breathed. “They can finish the movie and then that’s it for screen time for the day and don’t let Caroline tell you otherwise.” She paused taking a breath. “Thank you again for doing this on short notice.”

Lucy nodded, sitting down next to the girls and seeing what they were watching. To her surprise it was not _Frozen_. She watched the action on the screen trying to place it.

_“There wasn’t something there that wasn’t there before.”_

She heard Emma give a small laugh muttering to herself. “Not how that one happened at all.” _Beauty and the Beast._ Lucy realized, smiling as she too noted how different the tale was from the reality.

Emma left the room for a while, heading into her bedroom and coming back a few moments later looking more put together. She kissed both of her girls on their foreheads. “Goodbye my little princesses I’ll see you tonight.” She said and she turned and smiled at Lucy. “Good luck.” She added as she left heading up the stairs the front door slamming behind her.

Lucy looked down at her little sisters who were watching the movie intently. It finished half an hour later and she had to hide a smile as she saw the devilish grin on Caroline face.

“We can watch another one.”

She shook her head. “No you can’t. That’s not what your mom told me Caroline.”

“Daddy would let us watch another movie.”

“Well I’m not your dad.” Lucy replied with a shake of her head. “Let’s get our coats on and go outside.” She laughed to herself as she watched Caroline and Addison playing outside in the chilly September air, both of them seeming to adorably cute in their miniature cold weather gear. Little Addison walking to and fro bending down to carefully pick things up and hand them to Lucy with a smile. Caroline was more adventurous; throwing things for Lady to chase after, beginning to head down to the docks with a sneaky smile on her face. Even as this age she was a hassle. Suddenly it all made sense that the rest of them were so calm in comparison to Caroline, they had to be if they wanted to get any attention.

Lucy sat at the table, a sketch book in front of her as she kept an eye on the little girls. Caroline came up to her looking over her shoulder at the picture which she was drawing. “What’s that?”

“I don’t know yet.” Lucy replied as she looked at the long strokes and straight lines which she had made with her pencil. It seemed to be the way she always drew pictures, making lines of all different lengths before something came to mind of what they could all form. “I’ll decided later. Do you like to draw Caroline?”

The little girl shrugged, the Caroline that she knew only seemed to have a fondness of hitting things. That was her favorite, running and hitting and letting out all her energy. But Lucy gave her a piece of paper and a pencil and watched as she scribbled all over it with wild abandon, creating a mess of dark colors.

“Draw me.” Caroline said as she looked through the sketchbook which Lucy had created in the time she had been in town.

“You’ll have to sit still.” Lucy said in a small warning voice.

Caroline stood up tall her back straight and he head to the sky as if she was posing for the most regal of portraits. Lucy snickered to herself as she began to sketch away at the little girl, her nonsensical lines quickly coming into place as the image of the girl. She made her sit still for ten minutes before she allowed her to stand up on the bench and look at the picture which she had begun to drawn.

“It’s me.” She said with a laugh.

“Yes it is Caroline.” She added in a small whisper.

But Caroline was clever, turning the attention back on the babysitter as she turned her questions over to Lucy asking her all sorts of things before Lucy decided she had pried too much.

“All right girls, inside.” Lucy declared after another ten minutes outside, corralling them into the house.

She made them lunch, she entertained them and soon it was time for naps. “Tell us a story.” Caroline bossed her with her hands on her hips.

“Story. Story.” Addy echoed.

Lucy had never done that before, she had never been the ones to tell stories at least not to other children. She had told her stories to adults before, and they had listened with pleasant smiles. Yet as the youngest she had been the one to be on the receiving end, never having to tell them to anyone. It wasn’t as if she had children of her own or nieces and nephews to tell the tales to. But she sat them on the bed, looking for a book to tell them a tale to just like she had watched everyone ever do before when she had been the one listening to the stories.

“What story do you want to hear?” Lucy asked with a smile on her face. “Do you have a story book somewhere?” She knew that they did, that book which Henry would read to them out of, the one that Caroline had read to her out of.

Caroline shook her head. “Make one up.”

She sighed, “Okay. Once upon a time there were…” She paused looking down at them. “Two sisters one had back hair and the other had brown hair. The eldest sister was a strong fighter who had decided to spend the rest of her days as a brave knight, while the other sister took over as the Queen of their parent’s kingdom. But from the moment they took those jobs, life was not easy. See there was a terrible witch who had a problem with the king in the next kingdom over and being very girls they offered to help him. But they didn’t realize that…”She stopped as she saw both of the girls were asleep. “That would end up stuck in time.” Lucy said with a roll of her eyes as she left the bedroom and closed the door behind her enjoying the half hour of silence she now had.

**

Emma waited a half hour before she headed back to her own house. She hated using her own children as bait, the very thought of it made her stomach turn but with Regina by her side the two women crept through the bushes which crew alongside the border of her own home.

“Just like old times huh?” Regina snickered at her once unlikely confidant as they walked carefully doing their best to be neither seen nor fall down in the steep ticket of overgrowth.

Emma waved at her to shush and both women crouched down with a clear view of the backside of Emma’s home. “I don’t know about this?” Emma whispered as she looked at her two daughters and Darcy sitting on the couch. Everything seemed fine.

“This was your idea.” Regina scoffed.

Emma looked at her piercingly. “Yes but I still don’t know if she’s good or not. She could be the child eating witch from Hansel and Gretel for all I know.”

“Didn’t we already deal with that?” Regina began but Emma gave her a shove.

“What about the sister Natalie?” Regina bit her lip. “Oh that’s a comforting silence.” Emma replied with a roll of her eyes.

Regina only spoke with more nonverbal prodding. “I’ve never meet anyone so powerful in my life, to the point where I don’t know how she assimilated in with the normal world. It’s like with every step she takes there should be bolts of lightning.”

“So she’s Zeus.” Emma shrugged. “She’s a god.”

“She could be.” Regina muttered. “I’m serious. She could literally be something more than just a witch there is that much power within her, and there are greater powers than us.”

Emma watched the woman who was with her children, a pit of fear growing in her stomach as she watched the brown haired woman. She seemed kind and gentle with her girls, but what Regina had said haunted her. If the sister really was that powerful, could she be as well? Was there harm in leaving her alone with the girls, especially when Emma knew that Caroline had magic as well?

She tensed suddenly frozen in terror as she felt Regina place a hand on her arm. “It looks like it is going well.” She said in her gentlest of voices. “Emma we’re watching, nothing bad is going to happen.

But Emma didn’t really believe the statement as they continued watching in the bushes in silence. The movie finished and she watched as Darcy put the girl’s coats on and lead them outside letting them run around as she sat at the table. Emma could see her bent over a piece of paper and she longed to see what she was possibly doing. Caroline too was fascinated and she too was sitting next to Darcy as she drew.

Darcy seemed to only be calm, something which relieved Emma as she watched the young woman interact with the children with a natural instinct which she had seen weeks ago.

“Did you draw on your arm?” She heard Caroline ask loudly as she grasped at Darcy’s arm.

She laughed, pulling back the sleeve of her jacket to show Caroline the black mark on the inside of her wrist. “Sort of, but I didn’t draw it someone else did it for me.”

“It’s a pretty bird.” Caroline said as he small hands ran across the dark silhouette of a bird in flight against her pale skin. “Do you have more drawings?”

Darcy laughed as she pulled her right arm out of her jacket and pulled up the sleeve of her shirt.

“Look at all the tattoos she has.” Emma said through gritted teeth as she hit Regina in the side.

Caroline’s hands were running around Darcy’s triceps where there were three bold wavy lines, a collection on interlocking triangles and a few stars.

“I feel like you are being a bit hypocritical.” Regina replied out of the corner of her mouth.

But Emma was having nothing of it. “Look at all those tattoos, why on earth would she do that? Who exactly is she, some sort of magical drifter. I mean she can only cause trouble.”

Regina was practically holding her back in the bushes. “Emma it’s not as if she has R rated images over her body. She seems mostly harmless to me. I know that may be difficult to see when a witch is babysitting your children but I know evil; and Darcy Smith is not evil in any way, shape, or form.”

Emma sighed. She knew that Regina was right, she had been in the presence of evil enough before to know what it felt like and what she saw in Darcy was only an intelligent if uncharacteristic woman. “Fine, but we still need to watch them until we find out the truth.”

“Agreed.” Regina replied. “Now let’s go.”

**

The afternoon had passed by quickly as soon Lucy found herself sitting at the dinner with Addison and Caroline explaining to them the strange day that they had. They found it amusing to learn what they had been like as children from their little sister’s perspective. It seemed to take their mind off the possibility that they may be trapped in this point in time.

Such was looking at the other patrons in the dinner, some of them she knew, while others were newer. She was looking across the room at Merida, who was sitting alone at a table pretending to be interested in her phone as she made eyes at Lucy.

“Please tell me you are not going to hit on Merida.” Caroline hissed as she caught a wink between the two.

“Well at least I know she swings my way.” Lucy replied

Caroline rolled her eyes “Yeah, but it is just wrong. We know she'll end up married to Mulan soon enough.”

“Oh so there is more than one of you then.” The women turned around to see Will Scarlet looking at them from his stool on the counter. He had a crooked smile on his broken face as he looked at them with a glimmer in his eyes.

“Hello Mr. Scarlet.” Addison said with resignation in her deep voice as he came over to the table and stood over the trio.

“Addy.” Caroline whispered aghast as he approached.

“So, do they both play for the other team too?” He said pointing at both Caroline and Lucy.

“Wow you’re inappropriate.” Lucy said as she leaned back in her chair and looked at him over the top of her glasses.

“That’s not an answer.”

“Both teams actually.” She said raising her eyebrow.

“What’s your name?” He said meeting her eyes with determination.

“Darcy.” She replied dryly.

“Want to go for a stroll Darcy?”

She stood up. “Sure why not.” She muttered darkly.

Caroline took a grasp of her arm “Lucy George.” She hissed in a high pitched voice into her ear. “Dad would _literally_ kill you.”

“Well then, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” Lucy shrugged. “You’re not the only one who’s allowed to be wicked from time to time.” She said with shake of her head as she followed Will out of the dinner.

“I can’t believe her.” Caroline muttered to her sister.

“Oh let her make some mistakes Mom.” Addison laughed.

Out in the streets Lucy suddenly felt as if a spotlight was on her as she walked under the streetlights. A sudden panic came over her as she wondered who was looking out of their windows seeing her with the man in the moonlight. She wasn’t afraid for herself, but rather for her reputation.

Lucy turned and looked at Will Scarlet under the glow of the moonlight. “So what’s your first name anyways?” She asked even though she already knew.

“Will.” He replied briskly.

“Where are we going Will?”

He grabbed her hand and whispered into her ear. “You’ll see.” He led her though the streets in the darkness, cutting through alleys and backways. Lucy had never had as much of rebellion phase as Caroline or Addison might have, but she still did have her moments when she was rather tempted by the more lawless things in life.

They cut down through the alley, Lucy unsure of where exactly she was after all the twists and turns which they had made. Will stopped in front of a tall garden wall, and looked from her to the wall. Gesturing to it, that they should climb over it. Lucy gave him a small nod and began to climb up over it by grabbing onto the vines and the small holds in the bricks.

It was only a few feet high and they easily hopped over the top and jumped down into the yard. A large swimming pool was glowing back at them a deep blue in the moonlight. “Whose house is this?” Lucy asked genuinely as she watched him lean over to the pool, taking off his shoes and dipping a toe in the water.

“It’s warm.” He said with a smile as he began to pull off his clothes.

“No really whose house is this?” She asked again, recognizing it of course, but not wanting to let him know that. She had swum in this pool before, she had sat at the back patio she had ready every single book in the library. If felt like a betrayal of trust even just being here with him. But part of her wanted to be here with him, even if it meant living a little outside of her comfort zone.

“Doesn’t matter they’re out of town.” He whispered in her ear as he tugged at her shirt. She took a step back, making it clear with her eyes that is anyone was going to take off her clothes it would be herself. She pulled them off quickly, diving into the deep pool as she heard him splash behind her into the waters. She swam a few laps of the pool, listening to his soft chuckles as she kicked up water in her wake.

“What are you a mermaid?” He laughed, knowing the idea was completely plausible.

Lucy turned and looked at his smiling face with a laugh. She had heard of Will Scarlet but she didn’t actually think she had ever met the man in her lifetime. She wondered what would happen to him, but she didn’t care she still could have fun for the night.

“I’m not a mermaid.” She cooed into his ear enjoying every moment of tomfoolery.

“You certainly move like one.”

“Well I am rather at home in the water.” She had been her whole life, in it, on top of it sea water seemed to flow through her veins.

He swam next to her, his hand running up and down her bare arms. She had a tattoo on her right forearm, three thin wavy black lines which circled around her triceps. It wasn’t the only tattoo she had either, he noticed it he illuminated lights under the water. Two stars behind one of her ears, hidden by her hair, a flower on an ankle. “You’re quite something aren’t you Darcy.” He muttered into her ear.

“Oh you have no idea.” She muttered in reply laughing as she swam away from his, kicking up a large spray of water in his face as she swam to the other edge of the pool.

She looked up at the dark house, remembering the times which she had had within. Being back in Storybrooke was a strange reality which none of her life had prepared her for. The fact that her father had been Captain Hook had been easy to come to terms with, but walking around the past with no one knowing who she really was.

It hurt, more than she thought it would, to see these people who she knew so well and to have them see her only as a stranger. She was grateful that she was not alone in the experience, but the comfort of having her sisters along with her in the past didn’t seem to fill her desire to scream loudly as she looked at the warped world around her.

If had been a person with a weaker constitution she would have made an attempt at trying to change some of the fates of those around her. But Lucy knew better than that.

“What’s up love?” Will Scarlet asked, making her jump out of her skin as she was brought back to the real world.

She smiled trying to think of an answer which would please him. “I’m just imagining what my father would say if he knew I was here with you.” She replied in her most sultry of voices, she knew how to trick people she had learned from the master himself.

"Girls like you don't have a father." Will whispered as he swam across the pool towards her.

Lucy turned on him, grabbing him tightly by the wrist her face suddenly pointed with rage.

"And what it that supposed to mean." She said in a dark voice. "That a girl like me, a young flirty girl must not have a father if she has the poor enough judgement to spend time with the likes of you. Or perhaps that I must not have an attentive father who cares about my well-being if I am a twenty four year old woman with a master’s degree who acts this way. I'll tell you what kind of father I have Scarlet." She muttered in his ear through gritted teeth. "I have the kind of father who would rip you from fucking limb to limb, the very kind of man who taught me to do the same. Who gave his little girl the skills she needed to survive in this world against men like you in it." Her hand was slipping down between his legs, aggressively with malice.

With a flick of her fingers he was stunned still. "You're a witch." He breathed as he looked at her bewildered.

"Damn right I am. I can be the good witch of your story, or the bad one Will Scarlet, the choice is up to you."

The lights in the house flicked one and she looked up sharply to see the blurred outline of the old man at the edge of the pool looking at her, but not recognizing her. Lucy stood up, walking out of the water and putting on her glasses as the men looked at her dazed.

"Sorry about the trespassing." She muttered to Rumpelstiltskin as she conjured a towel and began to dry her body off, placing her clothes on as they both watched her in absolute silence.

Lucy turned looking over her shoulder and raised her hand up high, snapping as she released Scarlet from her control. She placed her hands on the wall, pulling herself over with one jump and back down into the alley as she returned back to the apartment in a swirl of blue smoke.

Addison looked up as the door slammed shut. Lucy was standing there out of breath, her hair slick against the side of her face. “What…” Addison was unable to say anything as Lucy ran into her room and flopped down on her bed.

Addison stood up, disregarding her book on the table and walking into other bedroom. Lucy was laying on her side her back to her. She seemed small as Addison sat down on the bed and rested her hand on her sister’s shoulder.

“I made a mistake.” Lucy said meekly not meeting her sister’s eyes.

“Okay.” Addison replied in a kind whisper.

“I may have…Rumpelstiltskin knows that I’m a witch.”

Addison tensed but she did her best to not convey that she was upset. “Does he know that your name is Lucy Swan?”

“No.” Lucy replied angrily. “Why would think that I told him that.”

_Because you two always had your secrets which the rest of the world was not privy too._ Addison wanted to reply “You didn’t do anything to him did you?” She said instead.

“No.” Lucy replied quickly as she turned her head and looked at her sister. “Scarlet was being rotten and I charmed him and he happened to see. I kind of ruined everything didn’t?”

“No didn’t.” Addison began. “I assume that he will either keep quiet or try to black mail you. It was only a matter of time before one of us slipped up, but frankly my money was on Caroline.” Lucy laughed as she turned back over. She was soaking wet and while Addison was curious as to what had happened she knew better than to ask. “I’ll be alright in the end Luce.”

“I don’t like this anymore.” Lucy added in a whisper as she pulled her legs up to her chest. “He looked at me Addison and he had no idea who I was. He looked right through me, and it shouldn’t hurt but…”

“But it does.” Addison replied finishing her sister’s sentence. It was a strange friendship that the two of them had formed in the future. “In time this will all be over, and it will be okay in the end.” She added darting out of the room quickly and coming back with a bottle of wine and two large glasses. Addison poured a modest size glass of red wine for herself before handing Lucy the bottle and the extra glass.

Lucy held the spout of the wine bottle high above the rim of the glass, a frown on her face as she poured to within a centimeter of the edge. She looked at the remainder of wine left in the bottle; swiftly placing it up to her lips and finishing it in one swallow. Lucy looked at her sister over the full glass of wine still in front of her face. “We’re going to need at least another bottle.” She said calmly.


	6. Interloper

_Storybrooke, 2017_

Lucy rolled out of bed feeling rather strongly that all she wanted to do most in the world was stay exactly in it. Still she had things to do, responsibilities and tasks which she was beginning to no longer desire. She had made a mistake the night before, she had been stupid and foolish and now they all were going to have to pay for her actions. Lucy wasn’t used to being the one who made the stupid and careless decisions in the family, but then again there was a first time for everything.

“Let’s go.” Caroline said as she banned against her bedroom door.

Lucy looked in the mirror, she looked absolutely horrible. She waved her hands in front of her self magically appearing looking refreshed and ready for the day thought that was not at all how she felt on the outside. She stepped out into the living room, Addison was impatiently tapping her foot car keys in her hands, Caroline too was looking rather on edge. “Sleepy head.”

Lucy looked at both of her sisters with a dark glare. “It’s a Saturday shouldn’t you be sleeping in?” She said to Caroline as they stepped out into the corridor. “Or are you babysitting me today?” She grunted.

“We have one car between the three of us and I need it.” Caroline replied as she jangle the car keys. Lucy realized that her bike was still probably where she had left it the night before, outside of the dinner. “Besides I was watching out for you last night and you still made the wrong decision.” She added as they reached the bottom of the stairs and stepped out onto the street.

“Pot calling the kettle black.” Addison muttered as they clamored into the station wagon, and Caroline began the engine.

Lucy rolled her eyes in the backseat. “We can’t all be perfect little queens now can we?” Caroline laughed at her sister as the pulled away from the curb.

“I’m glad that you two can mutually gang up on me from time to time. It really puts me in my place you know. Pirates cower in my wake, but my sisters aren’t afraid to pull punches. Thanks for that Luce…ifer” She replied sarcastically as they drove the few short blocks to the library.

“Oh ‘cause that never gets old.” Lucy got out of the car, shutting the door behind herself and waving at the two of them. “Someone gotta be honest with you love.” She shouted as she watched them drive off, as she turned to the library doors. The keys were in her hands, but when she went to unlock the door she found it already open. “Hello.” Lucy called out, it may have been a library but the complete silence was unsettling.

There was movements in the stacks as she saw the brown curls appear before the head of the woman itself. “Hello.” She echoed. “I’m Belle, you must be…”

“Darcy.” She said as she shook her head, still not feeling up to this as the amount of wine from the night before was still catching up with her.

She smiled at her widely. “Were your parents Jane Austen fans?”

Lucy could feel her mouth hanging open she was still rattled from the events of meeting Belle’s husband before and now she was terrified that the woman herself would somehow make this more complicated. “Oh like Mr. Darcy.” She laughed putting it together. “Uh no, not to my knowledge I think they just liked the name. Um are you the…”

She knew, she knew exactly who she was. She had to pretend and the pretending was beginning to get to her. “I used to be the head librarian, but I’ve been gone for a while” She shook her head. “A couple of years actually. But I’m back now.”

Lucy smiled as if this was all innocent as if she didn’t know the woman standing before her quite well, because she did. The problem was the woman before her did not yet known her. “Do I still have a job or….”

“Oh of course, I would never fire you like that just because I’m back. Do you want coffee or tea?” Belle replied with a smile.

“Coffee.” Lucy replied, it was strange that she had to ask.

The two women walked into the back room, they still had a few hours before opening, and it was obvious that Belle had come in early to do most of the re-shelving of books. Belle was funny, laughing as her conversation was riddled with references to books. Her eyes lit up as she talked about the placed which she had seen and gone to.

Lucy could only manage to look at her and feel somewhat melancholy. It was strange to look at someone and know what the next twenty five years of their life would be like. Lucy would get to know her so well in the future. Belle would be her dealer in her addiction of novels, the supplier of strange travels and a companion as they saw the world together. It should have been easy to look at her, younger than she had ever known her personally and distance the woman she was from the woman she would become, but Lucy found that hard to do.

 “Oh gosh California is beautiful.” Belle breathed as Lucy told her about her fictional home.

She nodded, trying to remember if she had ever seen anything other than Disneyland in her visits to California. “Yeah it is.” She agreed. “Did you see the entire world in three years?”

Belle shook her head. “I don’t think you could see the entire world in a lifetime. But we saw a lot of it.” And they would continue to see it in the years to come. “Why Storybrooke, Maine? Why come here?”

Lucy wondered if the question had been planted in her head, if Rumpelstiltskin had told his wife about the witch with the tattoos he had seen the night before. She had never carried the same grudges which her parents held, she was too far removed from that past to have it be justified in her mind. But the truth in why she had come to Storybrooke was not something which she could not easily say. Lucy looked at the woman who had been an innocent victim for so much of her life’s story, not wanting to lie to her but knowing that was the right option after all the trouble she had caused in the past twenty four hours.

“Why not?” Lucy said with a smile. “It’s a charming little town, and it’s different from the hassle and bustle which we came from.” She lied.

“Yes well there is also a fascinating cross section of men to hop into pools with.” She could have a biting sharp wit if you got to know her in the correct circumstances.

Lucy bit her lip. “You know about that.” She whispered.

“Well it was my house and my husband that found the pair of you.”

“Sorry about that.”

“No it’s alright.” Belle replied with a polite smile. “You just don’t seem like that kind of a girl based on outward appearance that’s all.”

Lucy laughed. “Well in the words of the late, great, Taylor Swift he looked like my next mistake.”

Belle was shaking her head. “Do you make a lot of mistakes in the men that you spend time with?” She asked with some care.

“No.” She said with a small smile. “Some of the people I have dated in the past have been very nice, and I have been in healthy relationships. But then again every once in a while, when in Rome you know?”

Belle snickered at her. “That saying doesn’t work too well in Rome.” Lucy shrugged, it was the heart of the matter than anything else. She pulled her hair back behind her ear the edges of her jacket lifting as she did so. “That’s an interesting tattoo.” Belle added as she caught sight of the dark nondescript bird in flight on her right wrist.

“Oh it’s one of many.” Lucy chirped, pulling up her sleeve to show her the rest of her arms.

"When did you get your first tattoo?"

"When I was 16.”

She looked at her with wide eyes. “That’s young.”

“Yeah well I hadn’t discovered alcohol yet. I was upset and I was desperate need of some way to feel some tremendous amount of pain which overshadowed the tremendous amount of pain that I was in. So I decided to conquer my fear of needles by having one stab me a couple hundred times"

She looked upon her with such kindness and welcoming in her eyes. It was strange for Lucy to be meeting Belle like this, but at least they could hold a conversation "Why are you afraid of needles?"

"Sleeping Beauty right? In one of the versions she fall asleep because she pricks her finger on the needle of a spinning wheel right? Somehow that freaked me out as a kid. I don't know if that makes sense or if it's just one of those irrational childhood fears. But I had lost someone close to me, and somehow getting a tattoo seem to be the logical thing to do. So I went and had a needle prick me a hundred times in order to make the bird on my wrist and then from there it was the waves on my arm the stars behind my ear and then it just continued. It became something I did every time something bothered me or thought of something or I drew something I really liked I went and got a tattoo of it. Eventually I got over my fear of needles and the anger over losing the person who I had lost to begin with.”

“The person who you lost…” She was looking at her with the kindest of eyes treading very carefully. “Where they…”

“It was a relative of mine, we were very close. He died suddenly. If it had been slow, if he had been sick I don’t think it would have hurt so much. I would have gotten to say things, to listen more, to not have been such a sullen teenager, but he died in a…. car crash. Just like that he was gone and I was alone.” She looked at her sadly, remembering all the tears and the anger and the yelling.

“Why a blackbird?”

She looked down at it, the familiar lyrics coming to mind. “I don’t really know it just struck me as what I should do. “Can we talk about something a bit lighter, who’s your favorite author?”

They spent the rest of the morning working in the library, easily finding conversation topics in familiar titles and well known stories. It was strange being back in time, but she could manage it was her only choice.

**

Addison was surprised as she watched Caroline get out of the car. “What are you going to do?” She asked her with a raised brow.

Caroline tossed her the keys as she zipped up her jacket and pulled out a pair of gloves. “Go for a run.” She said as if it was the simplest answer in the entire world.

“Should I get some coconuts and bang them together behind you?” Caroline laughed at the snarky joke. “Will there ever be a day when you don’t go for a run? Seriously you would think you were training for the Olympics or something.”

Caroline hissed at her. “You know that I have to be in peak physical condition for my job.”

Addison wanted to remind her that she wasn’t a knight anymore, but she knew how much Caroline viewed this as a temporary situation.

“Not today.” It was certainly hard for the man once known as Rumpelstiltskin to creep past them as he depended upon his cane, moving about on the pavement with the rhythmic sounds of a scrape and a clink. He had spoken softly as if muttering the phrase under his breath and yet making sure it was still clearly audible.

They both looked at him nervously and he seemed just as unnerved as he looked at them back.

“I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure of meeting. I’m Mr. Gold.” He said a wrinkled hand out stretching towards both of them.

“Natalie Smith.” Caroline lied as he shook it.

Addison could feel the veins in her neck pulsing as she looked at him. “Mia Smith.” She rushed shaking his hand dropping it as fast as possible.

His head tilted as he looked at the both of them. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Misses Smith.” He said as he shuffled off.

Addison leaned into her sister clutching at her arm as she hissed into her ear. “I am the Queen of the Seas that man should not be able to scare the bejesus out of me.”

Caroline gave a small laugh, but darkness also feel across her face. “Do you think he recognized us?”

Addison shook her head for her own benefit. “How is that possible?”

“I swear there was something in the way he looked at us.” She replied as they walked him hobbling up and down the docks from afar.

Caroline pulled way. “You can’t just leave me here with him.” Addison squeaked.

Caroline laughed. “Hey you’re a Queen you can handle yourself.”

“But you’re a knight, my knight.”

She threw her hands up in the air. “And a knight has to train.” She added with a coy smiled as she ran off, leaving Addison to head down to the docks all on her own.

**

Killian looked up as he heard the familiar sound growing louder and louder. He knew that this day would come eventually, but on the other hand he had also wished so fervently that it would never happen. He looked up at the man, trying to push aside any hatred yet it seemed an impossible task.

“Hello… Killian.” He said stiffly as he came to cast a shadow over the other man.

Killian looked past him, at the young woman who was following visibly in his wake. “Mia I am expecting a ship in from the Azores today, go into the office and make sure all the customs paperwork is in order.” She was visible relived as she scampered away.

He stood, looking down at Rumpelstiltskin.

“I thought you would have rather have this conversation in private.” He said in a voice lined with jauntiness.

“What am I supposed to call you now?” Killian was monotone, his hands clenched as he looked at this man.

“Raph. Is what Belle started calling me, Raphael officially.” He replied. “You know…. I am the reason you are here to begin with.” He stuttered courageously.

Killian shook his head. He was aware of that fact. He was painfully aware of the choices which he had made which had brought him to Storybrooke, but he was also aware of the ones he had made since arriving. He had lived through his own period of darkness, he had changed and he accepted who he had once been, rather than hiding the fact. “I never expected that you would come back.”

A twinge fell across Rumpelstiltskin’s face. “Expected or wished, Killian.”

He still worried that he was being played at. “Why didn’t you kill me when you had the chance?” He said plainly “That was the last thing you ever said to me, and I know about the conversation you had with Emma. So have you really changed or is this more mind games?”

“You of all people should know that it is not easy to change ones disposition. And I do not claim to be fully…. Redeemed…. But I have a right to be here in this town… just as much as you do.”

“Henry.” He grunted.

“Among other things.” He replied. “I wasn’t a good father, I didn’t have a good father, you know that. But I would like the chance to be a positive influence in his life.”

Killian tilted his head. “Then why come to me, why not Emma?”

“Because the history of you and I goes back farther than that. I would like your acceptance of the man I am becoming before I try and get to know….”

“My son.” He gulped at Killian wording. “Because that’s who Henry is now.”

If he was braver man he might argue whether or not he had the right to say that, but Rumpelstiltskin was not feeling brave. “Yes.”

Killian looked at him, at the man who was older who had limited time left in the world. They had once been titians trapped in a continual battle with neither of them winning. Now they were both mortal, now they were both men trying to atone for their past lives.

“Fine. But… I am watching you… everyone will be… and I swear if you so even try any of your old tricks I will have no problem granting you that wish of death.” Killian replied.

Gold nodded as he watched the man before him, he who shared little of the identity of who he had once been. “I am planning on holding a meeting tonight, with the entirely of the… old town…. Will you be there?”

Killian nodded, turning away and returning to his work as he heard the man hobble away. “Mia” He called out in a strained voice as she young woman came running out.

Addison looked at her father trying to place a comforting smile on her face as she saw the look of frustration on his face. He let out half a laugh as she saw her kindness. “Come on. Let’s get working on that deck.” He said his voice quivering.

Killian and Addison walked along the docks in the same path that Rumpelstiltskin had taken but they took a sudden turn, heading towards the large warehouse where the Jolly Roger sat in its dry dock. The door heaved open, and Killian looked at the ship with a stinging pain.

There was a time when he had loved nothing as much as this ship. It had been his world, the freedom which he had seeked with his brother. It had been his source of joy and power as he conquered the world for his own. But it had also bared witness to some of the darker days in his life. He had stood on its deck when his hand had been cut off, he had watched Milah die upon it. He had lost countless battles at sea and been tortured mercilessly at the hand of Peter Pan. Now it sat out of the water, held together by magic but still teased by age.

Addison wondered if she would ever know the ship as well as her father did. It would be hers in time, she knew every knot in the wood, every scratch upon every beam and yet each time she sailed in the ship that would be hers in time she would discover something new.

“How did it get here?” Addison asked as she looked up at it breathlessly. She could see the sorrow in his eyes, he had loved the ship but she knew that he would never captain it again. He would always take to the seas but never again as the ship upon which he had been christened Captain Hook.

Magic, that had been the answer. Emma had opened a portal, _What do you want for Christmas?_ She had asked. _My ship._ He joked, they had both been surprised when she made it happen. But he couldn’t tell her that. “By chance.” He replied as he began to climb the long ladder which lead up to the deck.

She followed in silence as the stood on the deck. She had gained a new appreciation for the ship as she saw it stripped down to its core. It made her understand just how much of a history the ship really had, It made her feel proud of the legacy that she was taking part in as she bent down and got on her knees scraping away at a few hundred years of vanish as she resealed the deck. The wood was worn from where people had stepped before, carrying the marks like gentle ghosts of history long gone.

“Where did you learn how to do all this stuff?” He asked her after nearly an hour of working in silence, the only sounds in the entire room being the aggressive scraping away of old varnish.

She looked over at him with a small smile on her face. He didn't need to be helping her, it was easy if not time consuming enough work that she could manage on his own. But she knew that the act of scrubbing away the past aggressively was more for his benefit that hers. "My father taught me." She replied. He need all the encouragement she could give him with thinly veiled metaphors at the moment.

"Really, what was he like?”

"Oh he's still around, imparting his wisdom with a strange knowing grin. Bothering us all about the fact that there are no grandchild yet.” She sighed “He was a sailor in the Navy before we were all born, he loved it. He made sure that all of us knew how to sail as well, every of type ship that was imaginable too. We were all excellent rowers before kindergarten. There was this passion in his eyes when he talked about ship, you could see the love and interest. We all enjoyed it growing up, though I think my brother was the least fond of it, but he never let Dad know. I think he resented being dragged to nearly every nautical museum in America every summer."

"You have a brother?"

She nodded. "He's older than all of us girls. A lot older actually. He's back home with my parents." She paused looking at the bones of the ship that would one day soon be hers. "This ship means something to you doesn't it. I can see it in your eyes, my Dad gets the same look sometimes."

He took a deep breath, not responding as he looked around at the deck of what had once been a pirate ship, he wondered if it would ever be called the same thing every again. This ship had no place in this world and yet he clung onto it because it did mean something to him.

"This was the first ship I ever captained. I was a different person back then, an aimless, selfish wander. The man I was talking to this morning, he was someone from that time in my life. Someone who I don't really want to have any more interactions with and yet I have to because fate keeps throwing us together.

“He’s Henry’s biological grandfather; his son had a relationship with Emma when they were teenagers and Henry was the byproduct. He has the right to be in Henry’s life. Henry hardly knew his real dad and his wife is kind. But I think most days…. Most days I lie to myself and I pretend that I really am Henry’s real father. Because I love that kid as much as I love my daughters, because I wish that it had been me that Emma met all those years ago and not Neal. Because it seems like the way the world should have worked out in the end.

“So I hate talking to him and looking at him because it reminds me of all the bad steps I ever took in life in order to get here. I never want to be that person again and yet I am clinging to this ship."

"But you’re fixing it." Addison whispered. "You're literally changing it. Stripping away the old and replacing it with the new. It not entirely the same ship as it once was, just as you are not the same person as you once were. Don't you want to share this with your children one day?"

He winched. "I don't know if I want the girls to know who I once was. Henry knows but only because he knew back then. But I don't think I want my daughters knowing some of the things I did."

She could understand, but she could also remember how it had felt to learn the truth. At how that very knowledgeable of who her parents really were was so important in shaping not only her life but the life of all her siblings.

“When my Dad when in the military, he saw a lot of places and did a lot things. But sometimes he had to stop some bad people. Knowing that he had done things that most people would think themselves incapable of doing. Both good things and bad.” She paused trying to find the easiest way to word her point. Perhaps it bothered her less that her father had been a pirate when she was the Queen of the Pirates herself. But she understood as a child the kind of courage it had taken for him to do those things, and she had admired that. “It made him more of a hero in our eyes, a flawed hero like all good heroes should be, but still it took great courage for him to make those decisions and live that life. It's important to know where someone comes from in order to understand where they are going. You're girls are young and maybe they won't like what they learn at first….look I'm not a parent but shouldn't you be honest with your children?"

He nodded. "Your right." He concerned quietly "Why don't you go I'm going to stay for a little bit."

"Killian I'm sorry if I overstepped-"

"No your fine Mia." He replied with a shake of his head. "I just...."

She understood without him needing to reply. "I'll go." Mia replied with a small smile. She felt guilty about leaving her father, but she knew that in time things would work out for the end.

**

If loving him meant hiking through the forest every single Saturday morning Regina was willing to do it. Not that she particularly liked trekking through the woods on the beaten path which she sometimes wondered if Robin himself had carved out, but she did it anyways with a smile on her face as she watched Roland dart in and out of trees, Charlie murmuring in the pack against her chest. The act of walking around with little purpose did nothing to entertain her, but the look on Robins face as the light broke through the mist, or as he spotted a particular plant warmed her heart.

She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, pulling it out swiftly and holding the screen up to her face. “Regina no cell phones when we are hiking.”

“It’s Emma.” She laughed as she showed him the screen, answering it anyways. “Hello?”

“He’s back.”

Robin watched as his wife’s face fell as she mouthed to him _Gold._ “Well we always knew that was a possibility one day.” Regina muttered in reply, they had just hoped that it would never happen in their lifetime. “What does he want?”

“To have a meeting with the members of the old town.”

She sighed. “To make amends I assume.”

“Regina.” She heard Emma hiss in irritation. “You of all people shouldn’t be against him. He’s in our lives for good.”

She let out a singular laugh. “If I could perfect the process, how willing would you be to go back in time and change who Henry’s birth father was?” She said in jest.

Emma chucked on the phone. “I don’t think we would end up with the same kid. Just come, please Regina so I don’t have to… just come.”

“What are you doing with your girls?”

“Um I’ve arranged for a sitter, you can bring Charlie and Roland over if you don’t want them to come.”

Regina gave a small nod. “Okay, we’ll see you there.” She said hanging up the phone.

Robin looked at her with sympathy. “Well?”

“He wanted to have a meeting, with everyone who… knows who he really is, tonight.” She paused shaking her head as he wrapped his arms around her. “You know a week ago my biggest problem was the fact that Natalie Smith is a witch and now Rumpelstiltskin is back. I really don’t want this to be connected. I really don’t want another villain of the month.”

**

Addison looked at Lucy as they approached the house. “Isn’t this going to be awkward?” She intoned.

“There is going to be three kids and three of us, that way nothing goes wrong.” Lucy replied as they knocked on the door.

“Yeah but like, if I touch my younger self isn’t the universe going to explode?” Caroline whispered in her ear.

Lucy shook her head. “I think we’ll be okay.” She replied as the door opened and she saw her mother standing momentarily relieved.

“Thank you for doing this yet again.” She said with a shake of her head. “Um Charlie will probably be asleep most of the night, the girls need to go to bed at seven, but after that…. I don’t know when we will be back.”

“It’s fine Emma. I mean I’m not Mary Poppins but I can do a very good British accent if you think that will help.” She paused as she watched the joke fly over her mother’s head.  “We have it under control.” Lucy added as they stepped into the house with a smile. The three sisters walked down the stairs where both the younger sisters were sitting at the table, finishing up with their dinner.

The little Caroline ran up to her older counterpart, taking her by the hand as she looked at the new person. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Natalie. I’m Mia and Darcy’s big sister.”

Caroline smiled. “Do you wanna build a snowman?”

The adult Caroline laughed. “We’ll there is no snow outside, but we can certainly watch the movie Frozen.”

“I can make it snow!” Caroline shouted excitedly.

“Caroline you are not making it snow.” Emma said through gritted teeth. That brought her back, how her parents had managed to go fourteen years keeping her magic unchecked and unknown to the rest of the world none of them had yet to figure out. “Mommy and Daddy will be back.” She said kissing them both on the foreheads.

“Bout Henry?” Addy asked.

Emma smiled meekly. “Henrys with mommy and Daddy tonight.” She breathed, her face clearly showing how little she was anticipating this event. “Thank you.” She said undenounced to her three older sisters as she swept out of the room.

**

He looked out at the crowd which had gathered. Frankly he was surprised that some of them had even managed to come at all. He could see the situation from there vengeful perspective even though he knew none of them would understand that. He had once been a man so filled with hate, so upset at the circumstances of his life; that he had taken his fate into his own hands perhaps that had been his mistake all along. Perhaps he should have waited for someone else to effect the change on his life, perhaps he should have been a coward.

His few acts of bravery in his lifetime had only ever resulted in people getting hurt. He had done what he believed to be right and he had lost nearly everyone because of it. He looked out at the crowd, at the people who were only here because of the ability he once had to control the world in which they lived with a snap of his fingers. Perhaps secretly some of them were grateful, but perhaps it would take another decade before any of them managed to confess that to his face.

They all had their happy endings because of the magic which he had worked. Yes some of them had suffered at his hands as well, but most of them had come out better than before. He had gotten his own ending as well, even though he had been reluctant to accept it. All his life he had wanted power, he had wanted courage even though he was a man filled with weakness. When he finally had that, when he finally had the power of magic which flooded through him he had never been more enamored. But he knew now that even with magic he was still a coward. He had never been willing to give it up, like an addict he was too blind to see when he had enough. Too unaware to know that he had been in the best possible place in his entire life before he made the choice to ruin it all.

For months after his power had been taken away he had been angry. He had turned once more into the beast-like man who had trapped Belle in his castle all those years ago. But in time he learned to live with the anger and the frustration caused by his adjustment to once again being the man who he had been. But he wasn’t the same Rumpelstiltskin, he wasn’t the same man who had run away from war, who had pushed away a wife and a son. He was the man who had caused war, who had broken families and hearts, who had killed and thought only of himself and not others. Once he had dreamed of being a hero, but he had been given those opportunities for heroics time and time again only to let them slip through his fingers. He knew now that he would never be the hero he had once dreamed himself to be.

Belle hadn’t forgiven him right away, and he was grateful for that. Grateful that she had grown past the timid young girl who trusted too easily. She had expressed her worries, her concerns, she had told him how broken and betrayed he had made her feel how she had been shattered by the sight of what their relationship had become. He was grateful for her bravery in expressing such emotions. The very fact that she could blame him for ruining their relationship made it easier for him to accept the fact that he was wronged her, and he was blessed that she was willing to try and stand by his side once more but only if he would give up his quest for power. Their trust for one another was built again, but slowly. Over the course of the years and on a foundation of honesty.

It was only when he had looked in the mirror to see a face that was more deeply lined, and hair that was greyer when he realized that his time left was fleeting. Perhaps he had lived for too long, perhaps he had seen too much of the universe. It was only when he realized that his time here was finite that he began to relish the world around him. It would continue on without him, just as it had continued before him. He was just a drop in the larger pond of life and he had caused enough ripples for an eternity.

He looked at his wife beside him. She had been indifferent in returning, but had supported his decision none the less. The only reason he had chosen to return was Henry, the boy who was his grandson. He looked out at the crowd at the teenagers sitting between the woman who gave birth to him and the woman who raised him for the first ten years. He had never been there to see his own son at that age, he realized as he saw the boy fidget in his seat. He needed to be a better man, he was a better man than the one who had left years ago.

He stepped forward from behind the curtain the crowd falling silent as heads turned towards him. Some eyes were vengeful others patient.

“Thank you for agreeing to come here tonight.” Gold began as he looked at them all staring up at him. “I know that for some of you the action of coming here must have been difficult.” He paused, trying to remember the words which he had rehearsed. “I would like to express my apologies to everyone in this room. I have wronged you all in more ways than one, some of you perhaps have already come to terms with that in the four and a half years I have been gone, others may never in my lifetime and that is alright.”

“I was a coward, I have been my entire life, even when I was in possession of the powers of the Dark One. I know that many of you in this room when faced with the same situations I have seen, would take the more heroic route. But that has never been the case in my life, I have run away from my problems, I have blamed them on others and I have constantly chosen the routes which benefited only my own gain. And I know now what I have lost because of it. My family, my son, nearly everyone who I have ever loved or cared about. And since I have no longer am in possession of that dark magic I have slowly begun the process of making the choices to become a better person in the time I have left in this world. I don’t expect you all to forgive me, but I would ask that you tolerate me.”

There were a few solemn nods of heads as he paused. “How long are you staying?” a voice shouted out from the back of the crowd, the implication that he wasn’t welcomed back as a permanent resident evident though unsaid.

“I don’t know yet.” He replied.

David was standing up, his face stony. “You do understand what has happened to this town? That the shenanigans you used to pull with the evil forces from every other realm known to man can no longer be accepted here.”

“Yes I do. And I have no way to call upon such old enemies.” He replied. David sat back down with a nod of his head as if satisfied with that answer.

But no one else seemed to have anything else to say to him. They stepped aside talking to Belle with smiles on their faces yet they skirted around him as if he had some disease. But there was one face in the crowd which was looking at him as he stepped away.

“Henry.” He called out. He watched as the teenager looked at both Regina and Emma who had hesitation and resentment clearly drawn on their faces but he took a step forward regardless of his mother’s expressions.

“Hello.” Henry said his face expressionless. The last time he had seen his grandfather he had looked at the man with pity as he begged at his feet, as the dagger of the dark one crumbled in his hands.

“Henry do you… can you forgive me. I said terrible things to you that I never should have said.”

“No, you shouldn’t have said those things.”  He echoed “You said a lot of things, to a lot of people which were never warranted.” He began with bravery on his face which was unknown to Rumpelstiltskin “And you hurt a lot of people, me included. I wanted to look up to you, I _did_ looked up to you. And then the person who was my role model just… went and betrayed me. You became everything I never wanted to be. You let me down. And some days I wish I could hurt you. I wish I could hurt you so badly because…. You broke apart a family. Yes it was unconventional and strange, but for some of us it was all we ever wanted. It was all _I_ ever wanted. To be part of something I had dreamed of for so long, and you almost ruined it.”

He continued in hushed tones which were worse than a yelling. “And you know what the sad part is… it thrived without you. You haven’t been missed. And now you’re back and you want forgiveness you want to be a part of my life again, and frankly I don’t know if that is possible. Because you had it all, and you were just too greedy for your own good. You tossed it away, and for what?”

His head was hanging down as he looked at the boy. “Henry that can’t really be want you think?”

Henry shook his head rapidly. “The very fact that you don’t think I am capable of making up my own mind about you just goes to show how very far you have to come in terms of understand the person who I am today.” He said as he turned around.

“Henry I’m sorry.” He began swallowing back tears. “I’m sorry that I let you down, that I broke apart the family that you wanted. But I would very much like to find a place in that family of yours once again?”

Henry looked at him and back at his parents standing behind him. His life was strange, full of a family which had chosen him and he himself had choose. The man before him deserved a part in it, Henry knew that was the right thing to do, but he was so filled with anger so filled with frustration at how Rumpelstiltskin had let him down. “That’s not going to be easy for me.” Henry replied honestly.

“I know. I don’t expect anything else.” Rumpelstiltskin replied. “I am at your mercy Henry, I will do what you ask.”

Henry gave him a small nod. “Then maybe we can have…. coffee sometime.” He said slowly.

Rumpelstiltskin felt a smile draw across his face. “Whatever you would like Henry.”

“I’ll call you.” The teenager replied as he drew back into the crowd and disappeared.

**

“Okay does anyone else have a strong desire to raid the liquor cabinet?” Addison muttered.

“Yes.” Lucy said in agreement as she looked at her sister. They were each stretched out on the couch, their long bodies lying over one another as they tried to carve out enough room for themselves.

Caroline rolled her eyes, “Guys we shouldn’t.” She moaned as she looked at the children’s movie which was playing gently in the background.

“Oh come on.” Addison said as she stood up, her neck giving as soft crack as she stretched it from side to side. “We know that nothing wrong is going to happen to any of the sleeping children. A shot won’t harm any of us.” She added as she stood and walked into the kitchen and directly to the cabinet over the fridge. She stood on her tip toes as she opened it peering inside. “Rum, Whiskey, Vodka any preferences?” She asked

Neither woman answered her, but she pulled out the bottle of whiskey, pouring a few inches into the bottom of three glasses and carrying them back to the women on the couch. Addison took a sip of the bitter stuff as she looked at the imagery on the television screen. She had been surprised when Caroline had chosen the Lion King the movie had never been a particular favorite of any of the women when they were younger.

“If you’re not careful I am pulling a Scar.” Caroline muttered as she took a sip of the whiskey. It was like smoke and caramel mixed with lightening as she swallowed it down.

Addison laughed. “That’s a pleasant thought.” She replied.

“It’s just Hamlet you know.” Lucy muttered as he held her glass to her lips, but did not take a sip.

“Thanks professor.” Caroline muttered.

They watched the movie in silence, they had spent more time together in the past month then they had in years. But none of them would admit to that. Their own lives had become so hectic as they dealt with the Camelot situation, as they took their own roles in their own respective corners of the world. They had hardly taken any time to think about their lives or themselves.

But now they were forced to spend time with one another, to no longer be separated by incalculable miles as they were trapped in the past. They had learned things about one another in the month they had been here. Who was funny, who had a shorter temper, and they were all on the same page, something which they had not done in fifteen years.

It had been nearly fifteen years in which they had spent this much time together. Back then they had been children, now they were adults, each with their own lives and yet they were forces to forsake those lives as they spent time in their childhood home.

“Do you think…?” Addison began as she looked at her sisters. “Do you think we’ll be like this when we go back to our own time?”

Caroline twitched. “You mean spending time together?” Addy nodded. “I don’t know.”

Lucy looked down at the empty glass in her hand. “It’s not like… like we hate each other. There just… distance between us.” Her sisters both nodded the distance both literal and figurative.

“Remember when we were little and we had all those big family dinners. It was utter chaos.” Caroline said with a smile.

Addy laughed. “Are you suggesting that we reinstate those?”

“God no, that would be a catastrophe waiting to happen, logistically how could we even…. But we’ve drifted apart haven’t we.” Caroline replied somewhat regretfully.

“We grew up.” Lucy replied. “We’re adults we’re supposed to have our own lives and to be able to do things independently. It would be strange if we all did everything together, we would be three creepy sisters who were in sync, getting married at the same time and planning to have our children at the same time.”

“We’ve gone months at a time without talking to one another.” Addison whispered.

“We’re in the middle of a war.” Caroline replied. “You have to make sacrifices when there is a war.”

Addison turned and looked at her sharply. “Still, we need to make a better effort when this is all over to have a presence in one another’s lives regardless of what realm we dwell in.”

“Agreed.” Lucy nodded.

“Agreed.” Caroline echoed.


	7. Identify

Caroline silently went through the moves in her head; thrust, parry, strike, strike, block, strike. Her feet moving lightly on the forest floor back and forth as if it was all a dance, never sinking into the mud as she continued to move. To her it was a dance, the dance of a fighter. The most relaxing thing in the world as she trusted in her feet and in her hands.

"What are you doing?" She heard the skeptical voice call out.

She had been certain that she had chosen a rather isolated spot in the woods to practice, but she looked at David and was not so certain. "Practicing." She replied with a smile as she leaned upon the hilt of her sword.

"Really."

"Yes." She replied briskly. "I fenced in college and I still enjoy it, so I still practice. Is that alright?" She lied.

"Oh course" He replied "You know I _fenced_ too." He added, she was clearly peaking his interest. Caroline knew that in a few years’ time he would be teaching her how to fight properly out in these woods, she had always loved those lessons. The smile on his face as she whacked away at trees. She was never going to be a normal princess, just like Emma had never had a shot at normalcy either.  “I would love you see your skills." He said honestly. He would never admit it, but he was beginning to become occasionally bored with the relative quiet which had fallen over the town in more recent years.

Her eyebrows rose. Now it was her turn to be skeptical. "Really."

"We could have a match, this weekend maybe?"

"Sure." She replied, interested in the outcome and little else. It would provide her with a distraction, and distractions were exactly what she needed right now.

It took a few days to come up with all the details. Caroline texted back and forth with David, with a small smirk on her face, not unlike Lucy’s favorite expression as they planned to meet on Saturday morning at the High School gym. The day did not seem as if it could come soon enough for either of them, even though those around them certainty expressed their doubts.

"David are you sure about this?" He looked at Mary Margaret who had an expression of her face which classified her exact feelings on the matter as they walked into the gym that morning. It was otherworldly as the bright sunlight falling down onto the wooden floor as they entered to see the three sisters setting up mats across the floor.

"It’s just sport." He replied, smiling even though his wife was scowling at him.

"What kind of an example are you setting for our child?" She gestured at Neal who was excitedly running around the empty space with wild abandon as if no one would stop him.

He was tempted to ask which one. Emma was already skilled in sword fighting and he had always assumed that one day he would teach Neal how to do the same, but this was not a conversation or argument which he wanted to have with her right now.

He looked over at his son who seemed taken by the notion of a sword that the woman at the other end of the gym was showing him. "Mary Margaret I'll be fine. There’s nothing to worry about."

She looked at him with her eye raised. "I don't know," She began with a sneaky smile as she waved Neal back over to her. "I haven't decided who I am placing my money on yet." She laughed as she handed him the fencing foil and walked away.

Caroline watched as Neal raced across the hollow gym his footsteps echoing loudly. It was as if everything in this world and in this time seemed to echo. Every action had an effect, some of which could be seen, others which took you by surprise. Fighting, melees out in the lawn of a castle on a daily basis were a part of her life, this was an attempt to gain back some of that world which she had left behind, and yet it seemed more like a dream than the reality she had known. She had managed to get the traditional fencing gear in order to keep up the allusion but that’s all this really was to her, a shadow of her reality.

Addison was laughing to herself while she helped her sister fasten the white jacket, distracting Caroline from her thoughts. "In all these years I never thought that I would be your squire." She chuckled as she handed her a helmet and a thin foil.

Caroline flashed a smile. She had been in many a tournaments over the years, enjoying the spectacle of the ceremony, she had even won a few in her time.  "Yes well, then it calls on you to avenge my death."

Addy rolled her eyes.  "If you command it." The queen replied airily.

Lucy was already sitting on the bench beside them tapping her foot impatiently. "Hey are you going to be the court jester for this thing or is that my duty?" She hissed at them.

They looked at her with daggers. Caroline turned back to see the sword which her sister was handing her. The fencing sword was slim and pointed, easily bendable. Nothing which could actually kill a man. She preferred swords which could kill a man.

She looked across the room, David was looking with his on fencing foil with the same doubts. "Hey." Caroline called out her voice echoing off the gym walls as his head turned. "Why don't we make this a bit more interesting." She said with a smile. "I got a pair of broadswords out in my car."

His eyes lit up at the possibility of using the weapon that was more familiar to him. "Only if you want to."

She turned to Lucy. "Darcy, go fetch them."

Lucy stood up running out of sight, maybe she headed to the car maybe she didn't. But she waited what seemed like a long enough time and came back with the swords she had clearly conquered.

There was a small crowd in the stands, Lucy, Addison, Mary Margaret, Emma, their children.  Emma was hesitant as she looked at the witch. She was afraid that she was not going to play fair, and that it was her father who would be injured due to her willingness to trust the woman. The rouse of a friendly duel seemed all too much of a common ploy to get someone in an uncomfortable position and Emma was ready to go, prepared to use her magic if necessary. But she still tried to distract herself from those worries as Killian sat down next to her. "Did you bring the popcorn?" She joked. The humor took a while to set in as he was focusing on one child who was on the verge of tears for some unknown reason, another who was hungry and Henry who was all too bemused by the event before him.

Emma looked at him and sighed, there was a time in her life in which she would had have to been paid a great deal of money to spend time with Killian. The woman who had been infuriated with him on the beanstalk would have been appalled by the scene before her. Of course the shock from learning this future would have made her fall to her death from the beanstalk voiding this future. But for a moment she looked at her life from an outside perspective, this had never been the reality which she had let herself believe could happen to her, and yet she was pleased with the outcome of her life nonetheless. She snapped into her maternal mode in a blink of an eye, opening her purse handing a bag of fruit snacks to Caroline who viciously tore into them and then took Addison into her lap, trying to distract the toddler with tickles.

"Aren't you a little worried?" Killian whispered into her ear. He knew of course that the sisters were witches, or at least that two of them were. There was an unspoken agreement years ago that he had become part of the Storybrooke town invasion task force. She had told him, what she had learned about the women and his had done his best to keep his eye out on them as well. Still, the level of trust that he was placing in Mia surprised her. But then again, if he trusted someone fiercely enough to take care of that ship, she knew the girl had some goodness in her.

"Of course I'm worried." She replied but as she looked at Natalie dancing gracefully with the sword she almost had to hold in a laugh. "I'm worried that he'll lose." She replied.

He laughed at that as well, believing it to be true.

"I better not have to scrape anyone off of my gym floor." They turned to see Regina standing with her hands in the pockets of her coat and a grimace on her face.

"Mom." Henry cried out with surprise. "I didn't know you were coming."

She shrugged. "I figured I should supervise this shindig, since you are using my school grounds after hours."

She sat down next to Emma looking at the two swordsmen in front of her, each being encouraged by their respective squires. "So who’s your money on?" Emma whispered into her hear.

She scoffed. "The one with magic." She replied bluntly.

There wasn’t anyone there to blare a trumpet of wave a flag. It just sort of began.

Caroline and David were standing on the mats looking at one another from a distance with swords in their hands. There was a silence in the air as each of them were reminded of a different time in their lives in which such an event would not have been a spectacle but rather a means of survival. He had his sword grasped firmly in both hand, she had hers bouncing in her right hand.

She closed her eyes for just a moment the world around her momentarily dark as she felt the wind rush up against her as she began to charge forward.

Both fighters were raising their arms high above their heads as they approached impact, but it was the woman who ducked, flicking her sword down to jab.

He jumped back, his feet slipping off the mat as he looked at the confident smile on her face. Gasping for air he found his footing again as he took a single step forward.

Their blades rested in midair, crossed in an x, neither of them apply any extra pressure as they looked into one another’s eyes. One had been a prince, the other was a knight. He did not judge her any less because she was a woman if anything it made her movements more unpredictable. She did not lunge and twitch the way a man would, her center of balance was smaller even the subtlest flick of her fingers more fluid.

She was like lighting with steel in her hands.

Her blade swung down nipping at his feet as he moved to hold his sword out in front of him. It was a brutal defensive position against her light steps.

He thrust forward with all his weight, she dogged to the side skirting out of the way of the blade.

She spun, so quickly he could only tell from the cool air it created as he felt the steel tap the back of his neck.

He turned and she was there waiting patiently for him.

He lunged her feet dancing and skipping backwards with ease as she countered every single one of his moves always keeping the distance between them long. She was nearing the edge of the mat and moving so quickly that she didn’t have a good sense of her surroundings.

He paused for a small moment, allowing her to take the opportunity to strike on the offensive. He stepped to the side, elbowing her hands.

She fell off to the side and let out a chuckle. “Oh that’s not fair.” She cooed.

“We never had any discussions about the rules of fairness.” He said with a smile, the energy and excitement flowing through him.

“Well then.” She replied with a cock of her head. And she looked over to her sister who handed was only a few feet behind her. She tossed her the fencing foil which she took in her left hand. She twisted her wrists the swords moving in small circular motions as she stood off the mat a smile broadening on her face.

“I like her.”  Said Killian loudly in the silent viewing galley

She lunged forward using one sword to block and the other to attack her hands constantly switching roles as she stepped forward. He was helpless and at a loss of how to combat her constantly changing styles of attack.

He felt his feet slipping, and realizing that he had come to his end of the mat he stopped, one blade resting at his throat another at the black of his knee. And his sword was still raised in front of him running the length of his body in a useless block.

“Parlay.” David whispered.

Caroline gave him a small nod as she removed her blades and took a step back. Bowing to him ever so slightly before she returned to Addison whose lips were pulled into a thin smile.

“You would have made a good pirate.” She whispered as she took the blades from her.

“Yes, well.” She replied as she began to pull off the protective clothing. “I choose the career with more frequent swordplay.” She added.

**

Caroline walked down the hallways of the school with a small smile on her face. She was beginning to enjoy this. Being a teacher, the strange small rush of power she felt when she gave students an intimidating glance. It had never been a career path which she had considered before, maybe it would be something she could pursue when this was all over and when her body had given out at the physical strain of being a knight. But regardless she was beginning to enjoy her stay in Storybrooke much to her surprise.

Outside the air was crisp. The autumnal sunlight swinging down like golden rays making everything warmer in its wake. She could have braved the staff lounge again, listening to the options of teachers who would be teaching her in a few years but she remembered from her childhood how the warm days of autumn were all to fleeting in Maine. She sat down beneath the large ash tree, pulling out her lunch as she leaned against its branches and looked up at the sun. It was strange to her that somehow the sunlight was different in different seasons. It was still the same star light which was beating down, and yet somehow the colors seemed different depending on where it was placed in the sky.

The breeze was chilling against her body, and her long hair was kicking up into her face. She reached a round braiding it quickly with well-practiced fingers before she reached down for the lunch.

“Oh. Sorry I didn’t see you there.”

Caroline looked up into the marked face of Henry. She smiled at him welcoming. “Oh that’s alright.” She replied as she looked at the large book in his hands. “That looks like a fascinating piece of light reading.” She added somewhat mockingly as she saw the book, old and leather bound and covered with Runes.

“Prose Edda.” He said with a light nod of his head and she recognized the title of the book on Norse Mythology. “Basically the original Lord of the Rings.” He said with a laugh.

“Really?” Caroline replied skeptically

“Well yeah actually. JRR Tolkien based a lot of the Norse mythology. I mean he created Hobbits, and Orcs and a bunch of languages, but the whole one ring to rule them all, some of the names of the characters even, come from this.” He said tapping the books. “I guess a PE teacher wouldn’t need to know that.”

She scoffed. “I’m more well-read than you would imagine.” She shot back at him. “Are you reading that for class?”

He shook his head. “No it’s just for fun. I have a strange taste in books.” She was aware of that, but she couldn’t exactly give it away to him. “I guess I’ll go.”

“Did I take your spot Henry?” She laughed.

He seemed taken aback that she knew his name. “Um it’s fine, I’ve seen how you handle a sword. I’ll find another spot.” He replied with a wave of his hand as he walked away. Caroline leaned back up again the tree watching as her older brother placed the large book in his bag and joined a few of his friend on the other side of the quad.

~~~

_Camelot, 2041_

Henry watched as the flap of the tent closed with a rustle of red fabric. He felt his heart falling as the scouts once again told him that his sisters were nowhere to be found in Storybrooke. “Where are they?” He muttered in desperation as he turned to Arthur.

His friend shook his head. They had known one another for nearly half their own lives by now they had become as close as brothers, trusting one another blindly as they carried on through their own adventures in life. There days at Dartmouth had been filled with debauchery and foolishness as did nearly everything in their power to avoid going to classes. For four years they had been close roommates who had seen nearly everything of the other man, who had been there for heartbreaks and hangovers. But on the day of their graduation, Arthur had learned who he really was. He had been stunned, confused, lost and he had turned to Henry like he did for nearly everything.

Emma had given her son a book the first time he ever visited home from college, she had given it to him with a small knowing smile which he had been oblivious to. He had the read the tales of King Arthur and Camelot when he was younger, but it was something about the smile which told him this was more important now. For nearly four years he had wondered, his suspicions growing, but never confirmed as he watched Arthur fall in love with Gwen, as Morgan became unknowingly jealous of her cousins life.

He had asked his mother once, his junior year if perhaps….well if perhaps that story was true as well.

“Maybe it is.” Emma replied with a small smile. “Henry, consider all the tales that you know to be true. Maybe Arthur is _King Arthur._ I don’t know how we could ever confirm it, but it certainly is a possibility.”

He had nodded his head in agreement, but he had wondered then if that story was true, what was his role in it, was he destined to become a knight of the round table or someone else from that tale.

So when Arthur stumbled into their apartment, still wearing his cap and gown and a stunned expression on his face Henry knew that his suspicions had been confirmed. Arthur had sat down next to him. “My father just told me that I am the heir to Camelot, as in _Camelot_ , Camelot. King Arthur Camelot. All that is real, and I’m King Arthur.”

“Regina was the evil queen.” Henry blurted out.

“What?”

“Regina is the evil Queen from Snow White. Robin is well Robin Hood, Killian used to be Captain Hook. My great grandfather was Peter Pan, my Grandfather is Rumpelstiltskin who is married Belle, as in Beauty and the Beast. And my mother is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming.”

“Henry are you high?”

“No. That really is my life. All those stories, the tales which we read and watched as children, there are realms, other worlds where those story book characters are real people. And over time, someone of them have come to live in this world.”

They had laughed out of strange relief, they had also gotten increasingly drunk as the evening had gone on. But Henry had been there by his friend’s side as he accepted the strange reality of his own life, just as Henry once had.

Now Arthur sat by his side in the tent in the middle of the white forest, a crown upon his head as they watched the door flap close. “Henry we will find them.” Arthur said in a reassuring voice, as he looked at his wife Gwen with a small twinge of sadness.

“It’s been a month.” Henry replied darkly, “And every person who comes back from Storybrooke hasn’t seen them there.”

“Maybe they are back here already.” Arthur replied as he stretched out a reassuring hand. “In a word without cars travel can be slow.”

Henry shook his head. “We would have known they would have sent a message. God, what if they are dead. What if Mordred got them?”

“Henry they will be alright. They are more than capable of taking care of themselves….” Gwen whispered. “But we need move on. We can’t stay here much longer and be safe.” She added, they had been camped out in the same forest for over a month waiting for the three sisters to return.

Henry nodded in agreement knowing that she was right. He wasn’t used to be the irrational one. He was used to Arthur taking that role. The man had calmed down a great deal since becoming a king, since finding a place to shine as a leader, but he still had his manic moments.

Arthur waited until Gwen had left with the orders before he turned to his friend. “Henry is there any way…. I know that you have always been adamant that they are not characters in any story but they are witches.”

“Addy doesn’t have any magic.” Henry corrected him.

Arthur sighed. “Okay two out of three are witches. Is there any way that they are in fact characters from a tale, that they are just fulfilling their destiny somewhere in another realm right now and that they were never supposed to take place in this fight?”

Henry shook his head. Arthur had been aware of his own tale long before he ever learned his part in it. He had read the stories, he knew that it was in his final battle with Mordred where he would meet his end. But Henry was determined to change that, this time they would be successful, he had changed stores before, he knew that he could do that now with his friend’s tale.

“Even if all this has happened before, if the stories are just repeating themselves again and again with little changes. The likelihood of their parents ever meeting, of them ever being born under those circumstances are just too slim.”

“But the Knight, the Queen and the Maiden. You said that you told that story once before, and now those are the titles that your sisters take.”

“I never wrote down that story, I never even finished that story.” Henry replied with a shake of his head. He had choose the three professions at random, simply liking how they sounded when combined.

“Then finish it now, create an ending for them, bring them back home. You are Merlin after all.”

He always seemed to roll his eyes when his friend called him that. Henry had slowly begun to come to grasp with the magic within him which had begun to show in his twenties. It was when he had traveled to Camelot with Arthur when he realized what his role was in this story. Still he didn’t much like people calling him Merlin to his face very often.

He looked at his supplies before him, the magical pen and ink from which he could create new stories. He had already been trying for weeks with no avail, he had a whole notebook with writing in it depicting various ways in which his sisters cooked come back. And yet they had not.  He had tried dates, specifics, all manner of names and yet they still had not come back.

 Years ago he had tried to do something similar with Morgan le Fay. He had tried to write about her demise, a dozen different variations which never came true. Until another author he had met in his travels explained to him that there were some things which even he could not change. Some stories had grown beyond their powers as authors and it had come down now to the characters themselves to make the major changes. He had accepted the fact that he couldn’t just write a different ending to this story, but he didn’t understand why his sisters appeared to also be beyond his reach.

The tent opened once again as Gwen popped her head in. “The horses are ready, I think we should begin riding out of the forest as soon as possible.”

The men stood. “Certainty.” Arthur said as he fastened a long cloaks around his shoulders.

The horses seemed eager as they set off through the forest at a fast clip. It was a rather archaic way to travel, but Henry enjoyed it as they galloped through the white trees of the forest. The flashes of colors as the cloaks of Camelot and the many other realms which had sworn their alliance to it flapped in their riders wakes.  The white trees provided an eerie backdrop as they rode, their spindly branches extending towards the sky. It was just one of the many forests which Henry had become accustomed to seeing in his time in the worlds with magic.

The horse beneath his galloped as it darted in and out of trees, as if it had never escaped faster away from a place in its life. Henry was not bothered by his time in the White Forest, but he understood how staying in one place for too long made them a target.

He saw a flash in the trees, a woman sitting at the base of one of the white trees. He pulled his horse to a stop as he looked at the woman, her back was to him but he watched as her long fingers moved elegantly as she braided her long dark hair.

“Henry” He heard Arthur call out sternly as he saw the king come to a halt in front of him. “What are you doing?”

Henry was jumping off of his horse running towards the woman who he prayed would still be there by the time he got to her. The dark ring on her right hand clinked against the golden one on her left hand as she passed the stands of hair through her fingers.

He stopped standing right behind her, watching as her fingers danced creating a woven strand. Her head turned and he looked into a face which seemed altered. Familiar and yet askew, the colors of her eyes and hair seeming to change with every blink.

“I’m only doing this as a courtesy you know.” She whispered.

Henry gave a nod as she continued on, but he didn’t move, the image was still in his mind. The more he thought about it the more familiar it seemed. A woman sitting under a tree braiding her hair, he had seen it before. But he was struggling to remember where.

And then he remembered.

“Natalie?” He hissed, and just like that she was gone.

The sound of horses was deafening as he heard Arthur approach. “Henry.” He called out looking down from his saddle at his friend.

 “Did you see her?” He said pointing to the spot where she had once been. “There was a woman under this tree, braiding her hair… I’m seeing things aren’t I? You didn’t see it did you?”

Arthur gave him a kind nod. He knew more than to call his friend crazy but he also understood the pressure that he was going through.

Why did she say it was a courtesy? Why was appearing to him like that something which she, which Caroline was doing out of the kindness of her own heart? He had seen that image before, a very long time age and he would need the help of others to answer his questions.             “Come on. If we hurry we can make Browslee Keep before sun down.” He said as he mounted his horse and set off at a gallop.

 “Henry!” Arthur shouted again after him. “We’re not going to Browslee Keep.”

He turned his horse around and looked at the king. After half a life time Henry was one of the few people who would ever challenge him openly. “We are now. At least I am, Gwen can continue on ahead, I know she will want to get back to-” Henry stopped knowing that they were in open forests where they could be overheard but any great number of unsavory people and creatures who would be keen to learn about Arthur and Guinevere’s teenaged children who were scattered throughout various kingdoms for their own protection.

“What’s at Browslee Keep?” Arthur asked in a whisper.

“My Dad… Killian. He asked me to meet him there week ago.” He said remembering the phone call

_"You haven't seen your sisters lately have you?" His father had asked him._

_He sighed heavily, running his hands through his hair in frustration. "I... I... Dad I...." he stumbled afraid to admit the truth_

_"Don't worry Henry." Killian had replied with a flippancy which surprised Henry._

_"But I sent them away and they haven't come back yet." He sobbed._

_There had been a stifled laugh on the other end.  "Henry they will be alright." He replied reassuringly_

_"But where are they? They shouldn't have been gone this long."_

_"Come meet me at Browslee Keep and we will think of a plan."_

_"Okay." The man known as merlin sighed defeated into the phone. "Okay I will."_

Arthur hooted softly bringing him back to the present. “Are you mad at him?” he laughed. “Cause we just spent the last three weeks in the White Forest instead?” Arthur rolled his eyes as Henry did not reply his mind becoming filled with dizzying thoughts. “Is the stubbornness genetic in your family?”  

“No.” Henry shot back at him mockingly.  “I just thought I could work it out on my own.  I know where they went now, I need to ask him to be certain, but….. I have no clue how they got there.” He replied as he kicked at his horse and set off at a fast pace.

Killian hugged his son tightly, but when he pulled away he saw the strange expression on his face. “I know that you are worried about them but you should have come sooner.”

Henry frowned “I’m not worried, not anymore.”

He looked at his son strangely, wondering how he could be so confident when he knew so little. “And why is that?”

He opened his mouth to speak, but was quiet for a long time before he said anything. “Natalie Smith was Caroline wasn’t she?”’

He nodded. “Yes she was. How do you know?”

The woman braiding her hair under a tree, he could see it so clearly now in his mind, the memory and the apparition colliding into one image. “Magic.” He laughed.  “They changed their faces, they chose different names and they were very careful not tell us anything about who they really were other than the obvious fact that they were witches from the future. So we just have to wait for them to return don’t we, they were only there for a short time?”

Henry stepped away, so confident in his abilities. He took a step away from his father and began to make a mental list of things he would want from the stores at Browslee Keep. There were plenty of ingredients than he could use for spells of all types in the future. Henry was so wrapped up in the next possible steps that he did

“Henry there is more….”

But he wasn’t listening to his father. “I sent them to get something I wonder if they-“

“Henry” Killian muttered in an attempt to speak with him.

Yet his son was paying him no attention as he continued on with his babbling, “The spell I gave them should have worked. How did they get back in time? But what if their magic-”

“HENRY.” He shouted, watching as his son stopped in his tracks looking at him aghast. “Henry they don’t know who they are yet.” He added softly as he looked at him.

Henry was shaking his head as he laughed, “They’re not part of any story, Dad.” He had just had this conversation with Arthur, he felt as if he was always having this conversation. Maybe in the stories he created his sisters had roles as princesses and heroes, but not in any of those which had come before his own. “If they were my powers as an author would work on them.”

Killian shook his head at him, “Henry, they _are_ part of a story.” He felt nothing as he looked at his father in shock. Somehow it had been easier to accept that he was part of so many different stories than it was that his sisters were. They seemed so unlikely, such a rarity in the scheme of all the tales which he had read, in the very stories which he was beginning to create. “Not just one story either. All magic has its limits, and they are beyond yours.”

They had chosen to carve out places for themselves within the scheme of things. Caroline, Addison and Lucy had chosen the roles they had wanted to play, they were never destined to do what the others had. None of them would have ever wanted such heroics thrown upon them either, they had each chosen their own pathways in life, or at least so they had thought.

“Who are they?” He asked in a small childlike voice.

“Henry I want you to remember that they’re still your sisters, they’re still my daughters and this doesn’t change that fact.” Killian began.

“But _who_ are they Dad?” He interrupted beginning to worry.

Killian paused his grey eyebrow raised in surprise. “He never told you?” He stated in shock. “Rumpelstiltskin never told you. You’re clever Henry, smart, knowledgeable.” He closed her eyes for a brief moment, surprised that in all his years of reading Henry hadn’t been able to put it together. The signs were so obvious when you saw them. “Tell me again want you saw in the forest?”

He shook his head not knowing how it would help, he wanted him to just tell him outright. “A woman… Natalie…Caroline…. sitting under a tree…. Braiding her hair.” And then it clicked in his brain, who she was, who they had to be. “How is that possible?” He asked strongly.

“It’s more of a designation which gets passed around to those who meet the criteria. I’ve had a lot of years to study up on this subject. I was the only one who learned the whole truth about them when they came to town, now I’m the only one still alive who knows. Rumpelstiltskin knew, but he took their secret to the grave with him.”

“And they don’t yet?” He shook his head. “You kept quiet for a quarter century.”

He shrugged “I’ve kept secrets for longer.” He replied.

“What do we need to do?”

Killian smiled at him. “We need to get back to the Enchanted Forest?”

“Why?”

“Because we need Olivia and both your mothers to help bring them back to the right time.”

~~~

_Storybrooke, 2017_

The notion of pre-school had not been easy on Caroline. There had been crying and screaming from the four year old on her very first day of school. She hadn’t liked being away from home, or having to follow directions. The berth of her stubbornness seemed to know no bounds, and getting her to agree to go to school each morning was a challenge. But she was motivated almost solely in the achievement of getting to go out from breakfast with Henry and Emma on Fridays if there had been no bad reports during the week.

Emma sat in the dinner looking at her two children. Caroline was more interested in watching the people around her than the plate of pancakes in front of her. Henry was gently trying to get her to do the correct thing as always.

Caroline looked up at him with large round eyes after her nudged her plate towards her one to many times. "Why don't you like your Grandpa Gold?"

Henry shook his head, she was too young to understand it. "He did something which made me upset."

"But he's family." Caroline said stubbornly. "Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten." She added, her little face so keenly aware of the strong point which she had made.

Emma looked over at the two of them, her eyes meeting Henry. "It's not all happy like the stories Caroline, it's not as simple as that. Sometimes people get left behind." He replied from experience.

Emma felt somewhat disappointed as she heard him say that. The boy which she had met all those years ago would have never said something like that. "But not for good." Emma added as she looked at her daughter with a smile on her face. They would always find one another, they always had. In the end every member of her family had come back at one point or another. "And now that Mr. Gold is back, Henry is going to try and make him part of his family again." She added as she looked at her son with stern eyes which Caroline could not see. “Caroline go wash up and then we will head to school.” Emma said softly, waiting until the little girl had scurried out of sight before her son turned on her.

“How can you just forgive him like that?” Henry asked her angrily.

She was reminded how young her son was and how little he had really been through as she looked at him. “Because I’ve been forgiven, because I forgave others. I’ve had to come to terms with what my parents did, with what Killian has done. Henry you accepted me back into your life after ten years.”

“But you weren’t evil.” Henry said loudly.

“I gave you up, and then I spent a lot of years trying to imagine that you never happened at all.” She said gently. “You were a reminder of the mistakes I made, of how I never should have trusted Neal in the first place. I would never have gone looking for you, when you got older.” She admitted sadly.  “Most days I lied to myself that you never existed, and yet you still welcomed me with open arms.”

“But you were _never_ _evil_.” He repeated.

“The definition of evil depends a lot on your perspective.” Emma said looking at him sternly knowing that if he had been a different kid he could have very well have said that her own actions towards him were evil. “I want you to talk to him this weekend. Just try and talk.”

“Fine.” Henry replied a roll of his eyes as Caroline came back to the booth.

Emma put on a smile as she looked at both of her children. “Alright, let’s go.” She said with a smile.

That afternoon Henry stood in front of the door. He looked at it, at the shop beyond it. The multitudes of things which he did know about and things that he did not. A very, _very_ large part of him did not want to open the door. It did not want to give the man a second chance. But he knew if he did not try he would be no better than Rumpelstiltskin in the end.

He looked inside, it seemed dark. Thanking whatever gods may have watched over him he turned quickly, not noticing the woman who was behind him.

“Hey.” She said gently as she took him by the shoulders. He looked up into the face of Darcy Smith. It was a lie. There was just something about it, something which he could tell about her that was so glaringly fake. “Something wrong kid?” She chuckled.

“No, it’s just…..”

“You look like your running away from something.” She replied with narrowed eyes.

He could feel his head recoiling as he scoffed. “No…I just….” He tried brushing her off.

“Or someone?” She gave him the slightest of winks.

He looked at her, at the black bird on the inside of her wrist, at the dark marks behind her ear. She was such a contradiction to him. The dresses and the leather, the tattoos and the glasses, she didn’t seem real. She seemed too vivid for this world, as if she was a character pulled out of a story book. But if he of all people could not seem to figure out which story she came from there was no hope for the others. “Walk with me.” She replied as she placed an arm around his shoulder and began to guide him away from the pawn shop.

With every single step she took there was a soft clink from the buckles on her boots, it reminded him of Killian, you could always hear him coming. The fact had saved him from embarrassment several times. He turned and looked at her, the sunlight reflecting brightly off of the lenses of her glasses.

“So who are you avoiding?” She asked.

He laughed but she looked at him sternly, expressing her seriousness “My grandfather.”

She gave a nod. “Why?”

He was reminded of Caroline earlier in the day, the little girl had not seen the situation in the same light as he had, and he doubted she would as well. “It’s complicated.”

“I’m good with complicated.”

He looked at her, seeing the obvious lies and yet also knowing in some deeper form of intuition that he could also trust her. That somehow she would actually understand. “Do you believe in magic?” He whispered.

“In a young girl’s heart?” She snapped back

“What?” he balked in shock

“It’s a song.” She laughed her face scrunching up as she ran her hands through her hair. “God now I know how my father feels when he says something like that and none of us understand.” 

“What do you mean?”

“He’s foreign and it’s amazing how you can live in a country for over thirty years and yet some things still get lost in translation.”

“I’m serious.” Henry replied somewhat annoyed. “It’s just. Why is it that when we are little we are so willing to believe in Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy, that everyone had a spark of goodness within them? Why does that optimism go away when we get older? Why am I loosing that faith in the world?”

Lucy turned and looked at her brother. “That’s the trick.” She began. “That’s the trick that grownups don’t tell you.  You have to find something, something that you love and you have cling onto it for dear life. Maybe it is a hobby, maybe it is a story, or maybe it is music. But that you find something you love, pour yourself into it, and then you see the goodness in the world.”

“What is it for you?”

She smiled to herself as she thought. “The way an entire person’s expression can be seen in their eyes. Joy, happiness, sadness, acceptance. The eyes are the windows to the soul. It’s an overused quote but it’s true. I was lucky I never stopped believing. Maybe that’s why it was so easy for me to accept that there was magic in this world.

“Ask a man to tell you a lie and to tell you the truth and you’ll see the difference. The eyes, the voice, the spirit, the will of that alone can change the meaning of a tale. There are people who are such good storytellers that when they tell a story even if there isn’t a single strand of truth within it, it is still easier to believe that it really happened than that it didn’t, because they place a little bit of their soul in that story…. In a good way.”

“I like stories.” Henry replied.

“So I’ve heard.”

Henry tilted his head. “But how does that make you believe in magic?”

She had always believed in magic. That childhood acceptance of other worlds, had simply blossomed into a strongly held belief that it was all true. She had been eight when her parents had sat her down and confirmed it, but unlike Caroline or Addison who had long since stopped believing in the possibility, she never had.

“I grew up with tales of heroes and villains, of tricksters and fairies and off far off lands where there was magic. The same types of stories of hope and true love which you probably did. Now most of the people who told me these stories, were horrible story tellers. Some were very good but… my favourite uncle, now he was a wonderful liar, but a horrible story teller all things considered. He was terrible with voices, his pacing would be a little off, he would explain all the little boring details which five year olds don’t care about, and the endings were sometimes  more realistic than happy. And yet I loved it when he told me these badly retold stories, because there was something in his eyes which told me it wasn’t a story, it was the truth.”

“And that made you believe in magic?” He whispered, suddenly wanting to know who she was down to every last detail, as if she was more intriguing than any story book character could ever be.

“They were stories about magic.” He felt stupid as he realised that his jaw was hanging open in shock, but them again her acceptance of magic to him was shocking, he didn’t know that along with her strange appearance she really was a witch as well. “From books of course, the brothers Grimm provided countless tales, and then there were the adventures of Princess Cimorene, Harry Potter, Frodo Baggins, Sabriel, Alice, Charlie Bone.”

“But if you know now that they are fictional…”

“Magic isn’t only waving a wand around and making thing appear.” Both of them knew that such types of magic were real, both of them possessed such qualities, but in their disguises of a real and un-sensationalized Storybrooke they both had to lie.  “It made me have faith in the world. Faith that there were good people in this world, and there were also bad people; and that most the time the people you meet are both.  Faith that impossible things can happen if you only open your eyes and see the world around you. This person you are avoiding, you don’t trust them do you?”

Henry shook his head. “No.”

“And they did something to burn that bridge between you and now they want to rebuild it?”

“Yes.”

“Then have some faith in them.” She said with a smile. “Trying to trust one person is not the most high stakes event which has ever done in the name of faith, you’re not exactly leading a Crusade Henry.”

It was easy for her to speak at him about forgiveness, but it was another things to be the person who had to do such an act. “But how can I have faith in someone who has…”

“You believe in magic?” She interrupted him, he nodded “If you can believe in magic, then look into his eyes and try and see the truth that perhaps people can change for the better.”

She stopped and somehow, though it seemed quite impossible, they found themselves standing in front of Gold’s shop. The lights were on and Henry looked inside to see the shadow of a figure. He looked up at her sceptically. But she just smiled as she held open the door for him and gave him a gentle push.

“Henry.” He said his eyes brightening as he looked at the boy. “I thought that I saw you out there.” He replied.

Henry gave him a gentle smile as he walked into the shop. The words which the woman had told him still ringing in his ears as he looked up at the aged face of the man whose powers he had taken away. If he had known that things would have ended differently perhaps he would have acted differently. But he had a whole lifetime ahead of himself to doubt his actions. 

_Do you believe in magic?_

The words which she had told him were ringing through his ears. He didn’t just believe he was standing in front of someone who used to have magic himself. Magic was all around him, the impossible which he knew to be true and yet he was struggling to forgive the man before him, it seemed to be a cruel type of irony. He believed in the impossible he had such strong faith and belief in the things he could not see and yet he was blinded by the prior knowledge he had of the man before him.

“Yeah I...” He paused not noting what to say. He wasn’t going to be able to forgive the man overnight. He had helped out in the shop once before years ago when he was younger in an attempt to get to know his grandfather better. “Do you need any help with the shop?”

The older man looked at him curiously. “Not necessarily-“

“It’s just with all the muggles around you don’t want anybody to end up with a cursed pendant or real spell book.”

“Muggles?” He asked curiously.

Henry laughed, to him the term had become synonymous with the new comment to town, those who did not know the truth about Storybrooke. “It’s like our special code word for those people who don’t know about what the town used to be.

“Any other special words I should know?”

Henry shook his head. “Doesn’t it bother you, being around people who have magic when you do not?”

“I would be a very petty man if I let something like that bother me... But then again I once was a very petty man.”

He leaned against the counter sighing as he looked at Henry. The boy was so much older now, his voice deeper, his face more defined. Gone was the child who had dressed so much like an adult, whose outward appearance had been so groomed by Regina and whose attitude was saved by Emma. The person in front of him was individualized. His black hair was shaggy and out of place, there were small holes in is t shirt and stains on his jeans and the jacket he wore was trendy. Gone was the boy in his school uniforms who did what he was told. There years had passed and Henry Mills had begun to think for himself. Others may have pushed him through the shop door but it had been his choice in the end.

“Henry I have wronged you so many times, and in so many different ways. We don’t have to do this, we don’t have to pretend to stand each other, to form some sort of a connection if you don’t want to.”

He shook his head, it was a small shake, but it was the none the less. “It’s easier this way. It’s easier for those around us, it’s easier to explain to Caroline and Roland why I’m not leaving behind a family member. And honestly, it’s easier to try and forgive you than to keep on hating you. So what can I do to help?”


	8. Revelations

It had slowly become a ritual in the past month for Caroline to walk through the house in the early hours of the morning. Her fingers running across the doorways as she hoped and prayed that they would work for her. Just once was all she was wishing for. It was in here in what would be the House of Doors, where she felt truly safe. It was here where she could let her magic run loose, where she could create sparks as she ran through the corridors, relishing in her powers.

“My power flurries through the air into the ground.” She began to sing under her breath as she ran past the corridor which held the doors to the eastern realms. “Swirling frozen fractals all around.” She added as she threw up her hands, icy snowflakes coming from them as she laughed in desperation.

“Let it go. Let it go.” She screamed as she reached the door at the end of the way, the one she wished so desperately would open for her. “Can’t hold it back anymore.” She sobbed as she slid to the floor, her back to the door as she hugged her knees.

 She held her head in her hands. Arendelle, it was the one place more than anything else that she wanted to see at this moment. She had left so much behind there and now she feared that she would never return.

The hate, the fear, the anger which was rising inside of her with each passing day. The frustration which swirled around her was nearing a fever pitch and she was terrified of what would happen if she let it consume her.

“What is it about this place that you keep coming back to?” Caroline looked up into the cold eyes of her mother. Emma was walking towards her slowly, a hand firmly on her hip her fingers no doubt reaching towards her gun.

She looked up, brining herself to her feet. “I’ll leave. I don’t want any trouble.” She muttered.

“Every day you come here, every day for the past month. Why? What is this place to you?”

Caroline let out a small laugh. “And you’ve been following me every day?” She scoffed

A smile flashed across her mother’s face. “Not always me… but someone has been watching this place, we always are.”

“It’s nothing Emma.” She said darkly as she moved to brush past, but Emma took a hold of her wrist.

 “You just came to town, why are you so drawn to this house? You don’t even-” Emma stopped suddenly her hand flying to her gun as she pointed it to Caroline. “So what evil witch are you then?”

Caroline looked at her bewildered “What are you….” She turned her head to see the door to Arendelle which was now frozen with a thick layer of ice. “Shit.” Caroline muttered under her breath knowing that she had blown their cover.

Emma was shaking her head as she held the gun with one hand and pulled out her cell phone with another. “You know we have like four years without having to deal with any of this. What realm do you come from and what are you doing here?”

Caroline was stammering wondering how much of the truth she could tell, if she could tell any of it all. “No you don’t understand.” She said throwing up her hands in a form of surrender. “We’re not here to cause any trouble, it was an accident. We’re stuck.”

“And you can’t get back to your realm?” Emma said repeating the familiar phrase.

“This is my realm.” Caroline whispered as she looked at her mother.

Emma shook her head, her finger ready to pull the trigger. “What do you mean this is your realm?” She said in a scathing voice which seemed to cut to the core.  “That can’t be possible, you have magic and this is the land without magic.”

“It won’t always be like that.” Caroline said biting at her lip.

“And how would you know something like that?” Emma spat.

She closed her eyes, she could see no other option than a fragment of the truth. “This isn’t our time. We can’t get back to our time.” Caroline confessed as she watched her mother’s face dropped. “We’re stuck here by accident.”

Emma could feel the overwhelming wave come over her as she looked at the woman before her who was only a few years younger than her in appearance. After everything she had put up with in her life, this was the last possible thing she ever imagined having to deal with. “You’re time travelers….you and your sisters are time travelers?”

“I…I wouldn’t say time travelers per say. We just happened to go back in time.” Caroline stammered.  “It is possible under the right circumstances.”

“I know.” Emma replied with a nod. She had done it herself by accident, she had remembered how terrified she had been to spend a few days in a time in which she had not been born. She looked at the woman before her realizing she had gone a month out of her own time. “And why this place?” She said not believing the words which were escaping her own mouth.

“We know it as the House of Doors, it’s a place where the doorways all lead to different realms. People go between them living in both as they see fit.”

“You’re from the future then, I assume.” Caroline nodded as Emma shook her head wishing that this was somehow a dream. “How is it possible that this house is filled with magical doorways?”  She groaned.

The other woman shrugged “I don’t know I never asked, it was like that since I was a child.” Replied Caroline honestly.

“If you’re from the future. Do you know who I am? Do you know who we all are?”

“You’re the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming who is married to Captain Hook.” She said with a small laugh.

Emma gave a small nod. “Who are you?”

She shrugged “I don’t think I’m part of any story.”

She pointed to the door which was frozen over. “And what is supposed to be behind there? If this is your world why are you so desperate to get to what is behind that door?”

Caroline could fell the tears beginning to swarm in her eyes as she looked at her mother who did not ever recognized her. “My son.” She cried. “My son is in that realm.”

“Why-” Emma began as she lowered her gun as she looked at the agony which was falling over Caroline face.

“In the time we come from there is this powerful sorcerer who trying to destroy everything. We were sent here, back to Storybrooke to come and get something which could stop him. But it’s not our Storybrooke and we don’t know how to get back. And behind that door is my son. Who isn’t even a year old and I don’t know if I am ever going to see him again.” Caroline cried as she felt Emma wrap her arms around her.

Emma was holding her tight comforting her as she rubbed a hand against her back. She had done this before, hundreds, thousands of times before. She had done it on the very day in which Caroline left her husband and her young son in Arendelle to rejoin Arthur’s crusade.

“Okay.” She said with a small nod. “We need to get some people together. People who can help get you back to where you belong.” Emma replied. “It’s going to be okay… I don’t even know your name.”

“Natalie.” She breathed.

“That’s not your real name.”

“You can’t get involved in this Emma. We’re from the future and… it’s just not… something that I can….”

“Fine then I’ll call you Natalie if that is what you want. But I’m going to help you get back to your son. And I need some my friends to help out with this as well.” Caroline nodded, wondering if this was part of the plan if this was always what was meant to happen.

If her parents got involved now, at this point of their lives then why had they never mentioned any of it before? It seemed suspicious, but Caroline did not argue as she followed Emma out of the building and into her squad car. If they never put it together, if they never learned who the three sisters really were then perhaps they could avoid any strange paradoxes.

All they needed to do was to get back to their own time now, and if they had spent a month already wondering how that was possible maybe having the help of others of their parents and other family members would help them get back to the time from which they had come.

“Do you have a phone?” Emma said as she pulled hers out, no doubt sending off a firestorm of texts which Caroline could not see. She nodded in reply as the car began “Then inform your sisters that we will be picking them up shorty. Where do you live?”

“The apartment building on 9th street.” She said with a whisper as she heard Emma give a small laugh of irony. She too through it was ironic that they happen to live underneath their grandparents.

They pulled up to the building where Addison and Lucy were already standing in the cold looking somewhat nervous as Emma stopped the car in front of them.

“Take your own car.” Emma said as she unlocked the doors. “I’ll meet you at the police station.” She added.

Caroline got out, wordlessly joining her sisters as they watched Emma pull quickly away.

“What happened?” Lucy whispered in a small voice as they walked around the building to the car.

“She knows that I’m a witch from the future.” Caroline answered as they got into the car.

“What else?” Addison asked firmly.

“Nothing else, but… I assume were going to have to think fast at the station.” Caroline replied as she drove off trying to pull herself together.

The police station was something that was familiar to all of them. Something which had been changed very little in their lifetimes. They watched as Emma join the ranks of Killian, Regina, Robin, Mary Margaret and David who were already in the room waiting for them. “Well nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.” Lucy muttered under her breath as she watched those whom they knew as their parents and elders confer.

Emma filled them in quickly, turning to face the three women. On first glance they did not look related, each of them with a different hair and eye color, but upon closer inspection there were similarities. Similar noses, the same rigid posture, similar facial expressions which made them undeniably sisters. “Do you all have magic?”

The middle one raised her hand. “I don’t.”

“Your two sisters have magic and you don’t, that seems rather suspicious.” Regina muttered.

Addison nodded. “Believe me I know. I’m the only one of my siblings who appears to be relatively normal.” There was a small grunt of disagreement from the youngest. “But if I do happen to have magic of any sort it has never been revealed to me in my entire life time.”

“What are your real names?” Robin muttered as he looked at them.

Lucy shook her head. “We can’t tell you that. If we were to tell you who we were it might put our existence in jeopardy.”

“So you are from the future then?” Killian asked.

Caroline nodded as she looked at her father. “And you’re man from the past. Is it really that implausible?”

“How far”? Emma replied.

“Far enough that we know many of the events that are yet to come.” Addison replied.

“And why should we believe that?” Regina asked.

They looked at one another, struggling to come up with a reason which they would all believe. They could tell them something which would happen, something years down the line, but they needed something that would happen in the immediate future. Something that would happen tomorrow, something to make them believe.

“They’re not lying.” Emma said with a shake of her head. “At least not about coming from the future.”

Kilian sighed. “Emma how can you...”

“I know.” She replied looking at her husband pointedly, it was after all her super power. “You said that the time you came from that someone was attacking the town.”

They shared a glance. They knew that events which would unfold within the next decades needed to come as a relative surprise to their families. That the revelation of Arthur being, well King Arthur needed to be something which took them by surprise. They needed to pretend that they were from much farther in the future than they actually were. “You understand we can only give you vague details right?”

Emma nodded, she had messed around with her parents past enough to understand that chancing the past was something to not be done lightly. “Of course.”

Addison began, “Eventually the doors to the realms will be opened once again, and people will go back and forth. In time there will someone who tried to unite all the realms, and someone who tries to destroy them. The forest, the Highlands, Storybrooke and a few more places they will join together to try and stop this man. We were sent here to collect something, an artifact that would help destroy this wizard once and for all. But we weren’t near the actually door to Storybrooke, and it would have taken us weeks to get there. Weeks that we didn’t think we had. So we did a spell meant to send us here without using the correct doorway, somehow it took us to this time instead.”

“So now you need to know how to get back to the Enchanted Forest.” Regina replied.

They nodded. “And also to our own time.” Caroline added.

“The person who created the spell are they here now…..” Regina said with a roll of her eyes, fully expecting the answer to be Rumpelstiltskin.

In a way Henry was here now, but it would be years before he adopted the title of Merlin. “No.” It was half a truth but it was enough to convince them all of what needed convincing.

Emma looked around all of them with a nod. “You call the mansion the House of Doors. You said you always knew it to be like that. Do you know how it got that way?” She asked as she looked at Caroline.

She shook her head. “No. I never thought to ask and I was never told how it came to be.”

They looked at one another, the citizens of Storybrooke as it was. It wasn’t all that different from the one that Caroline, Addison and Lucy had been attempting to go to. The people still kept their once magical identities secret, as if they were the alter ego of super heroes, the past was still something rarely talked about in open spaces. But these people before them all were so much younger than the versions which they had come to know.

They looked around at one another, there would be no doubt of a long conversation when the three sisters left. But Emma looked at them and gave the girls a small smile.  “Of course we will try and help. I’m sure that you all want to get back to your own time. I’m sure Natalie wants to see her son.”

Addison and Lucy heads turned in shock as they looked at their elder sister who was beginning to blush deeply. "I'm sorry what?" Lucy blinked as she looked at Emma.

"I'm sure that Natalie wants to get back to her son." Emma repeated. "And it seems that time is of the essence, so we will try to do this as quickly as possible."

Caroline was standing still, the veins in her neck visible as she gave the smallest of head shakes to her sisters. Now was not the time for them to have this argument, not in front of all these people who they were asking to blindly trust them. 

"We should go, Darcy." Caroline said as she took her sisters hand. "We should go. Darcy." She replied as she pulled her out of the police station and back into the Volvo.

Lucy could fell the anger building up inside of her as Addison took her hand and led her into the car. "Did you..."

Addison shook her head quickly. "Don’t make a scene Luce." she whispered as she closed the door behind her.

Lucy could feel her fingernails digging into her palms as Caroline started the car and began to drive back to the apartment. "Just stay calm until we get home." Addison added her voice breaking. But Lucy didn't know if she could manage that.

The door slammed behind them as they entered the apartment. "You have a son." Lucy yelled as she turned to look at Caroline who was on the verge of tears. "And you didn't... I didn't even know you were married." She shouted.

"Lucy." Addison yelled as she held her sisters hand back. "Caroline why didn't you tell us?" She sobbed as she looked at her older sister.

"I didn't want to put them in any more danger than they need to be." Caroline whispered as she sat down in a chair.

Addison looked at her pointedly. "So you just kept them quiet because you have the ability to. We're your sisters." She spat vehemently.

Caroline looked at her, tears streaming down her face as her voice cracked. "How would you feel if it was Olivia in danger of being kidnapped and taken as leverage over you?"

"Are you kidding me right now Caroline?" Addison roared, her hands throwing up in the air in anger the lights overhead flickering as she looked at her sister. "Olivia is always in danger and yet I don't hide her away and pretend she doesn't exist. For God sakes Caroline how long have you been married, and to who?"

"It’s been four years.” She panted cowering in defeat as she looked at her younger sisters. “They live in Arendelle."

"And how old is your son? Lucy replied.

"Eight months."

Addison was shaking her head as Lucy paced up and down the apartment. The rage and the anger which her two sisters were showing only seemed to make the situation worse. "So that's why we haven't seen you in a year” Addison muttered.  “Because you were off having a kid in secret. Do Mom and Dad even know?"

She hadn’t been this terrified since she was a teenager. "Yes they do and his parents know as well."

"And who else?"

Caroline looked at them clearly not wanting to say. "Arthur and Gwen." She added in a whisper.

“Not Henry?” Addison asked.

“Not Henry.” She confirmed.

A handful of books came off the shelf as Lucy swung her hands in the air. "I can't believe you Caroline, this is exactly what we promised we wouldn't do to each other." Each point of her finger was like a stab to the heart.

"Can't you understand why I did it?" Caroline sobbed. "That’s my son, my child and my husband who I left behind, who I may never see again."

Lucy shook her head, knowing that if he spoke she was going to say something which she could come to regret. She went to her room, slamming the door behind her Addison opened it once more as she joined her sister, and Caroline sat alone in the living room, crying loudly as the fear rose inside of her once more.

**

“This doesn’t…”Killian began as he looked at his wife. “I don’t have a good feeling about this?”

Regina looked at him and nodded in agreement. “Emma I think that we are being a little too trusting. I mean, how did Natalie come to tell you all of this?”

“Look I know I have a bit of a tendency for heroics, but if you could have seen her.” She paused looked at them all. “She was standing in front of a door sobbing, and I know that she is telling the truth.”

Mary Margaret looked at her daughter with a small smile. “Did she say where the door was leading to?”

“Arendelle.” Emma replied. “And when she got angry she froze it over. For all we know she could be Elsa’s granddaughter.” She said as she looked at her husband. “We have to help them don’t we?”

“What if it is a trap?” David whispered.

“We’ll dealt with traps before.” Emma replied with a shake of her head.

Regina scoffed. “They come to town and then a few weeks later Gold returns it is rather suspicious.”

“I think it’s a coincidence.” Emma defended.

“What if it isn’t? We’ve done this all before but we also have more to lose now?” Killian replied.

She laughed. “I’m sorry do you not remember what happened while I was pregnant with Caroline?” She joked. “We can deal with this, like we have everything before.” She looked around at them at their tentative glances. They had done this before but the town had also been so different than it was now.

“If an ice wall forms around the town, if there is magic running down the streets” David began. “It won’t be something that everyone just accepts, there will be questions.”

“Then we keep it quiet.” Mary Margaret replied. “Only the people who need to know will know. Emma’s right, they deserve to get back to their own lives. And it appears they are telling as much truth about who they are as they can. If that’s the case then we should try to help them, because it’s not as if nobody has ever helped us fight our battles before. Besides it was beginning to get a little boring around her anyways.” She said with a smile

“Mom.” Emma called out scandalized but she appreciated the gesture.

But with that it was as if the decision had been made for all of them. “How do we get a whole house full of portals working?” Regina muttered.

Emma looked at her and shrugged. “At least were not the only two with magic anymore.” She replied with a small smile.


	9. Tales

Her head hurt as Emma woke up the next morning. She looked up at the ceiling as she relished in the warmth of the bed not wanted to get out of it for the day.

This was all supposed to be over, this crazy phase of her life in which she was the sword wielding hero. But if she had once been the savior would that title ever truly slip from her grasp? The knowledge that the Smith sisters were really from the future of the very world which she lived in did not ease the discomfort she felt. It felt like a trap, like she was slowly being pulled back into a life which she had given up years ago. Yet the life of a hero after the battle was won, she would be the frits one to admit that it could be dull at times. She felt it would have been even duller if she did not have children to occupy her time.

As she stood and dressed she kept her worries to herself she wondering if all this had ever been was an extended vacation from the life she had once lived. Her whole life, for as long as she could remember was filled with the extraordinary. It had taken the forms of juvenile rule breaking and defeating evil queens but she only in the past three years had her life even begun to resemble what someone would call ordinary.

“Mom.” She turned and looked at Henry in the doorway. He knew something was up, but he was hiding it well. Hiding it easily behind the sudden burst of anger he had felt when Rumpelstiltskin had come back to town. She had been taken aback by what her son said, the malice of the words seeming too strong as they came from him lips, but she could not disagree with what he had said. She understood his anger, and his reluctance to trust. She only wondered why he had never felt such emotions towards her in his lifetime. Maybe he had, maybe there had been on day in which he discovered he had been adopted? Has he ever yelled and screeched at Regina? Maybe when he learned who she was, and what her life had been he had cried. But he had never been as angry as when he looked into the eyes of Rumpelstiltskin. Killian had told her about the conversation he had with the man earlier in the day, about how it seemed he really was acting without an agenda, but Emma knew it would be Henry who would forgive him last. 

“Are you okay?” He asked with a yawn.

She nodded, looking at her son who was pulling on a rain coat. “Yeah.”

His eyes narrowed, clearly not believing her. “Why was _everyone_ at the station yesterday?” She knew who he meant, why was everyone important from the old version of the town there. “Is something happening?”

She knew she should lie to him, she knew that after all he had been through her deserved the truth. He may have been younger than a teenager but he had gone through the same spells and curses as she had. “The Smith sisters who moved her over a month ago….”

“Ms. Smith’s a witch isn’t she?” Henry said with a small smile.

She nodded “Her and her sister Darcy both are. How did you know?”

He shrugged “I just knew. I could kind of tell when I met her. Is she an evil witch?”

“No, I’m pretty sure she’s not.” She paused. “But Henry….. She’s also from the future.”

“Seriously.” He laughed his eyes widening. “That’s kind of awesome.”

“It might be awesome Henry but it is also something to be concerned about.” She paused looking him over. “Where are you going?”

“Um… for a walk down by the shore” He replied as he zipped up the jacket, and pulled out his phone checking it one last time.

She smiled to herself as she knew just what exactly he was doing. “Say hi to Priya for me.”

He looked down at his feet, his face reddening. “I’m meeting Lily actually.”

She looked up at her son sharply “Just be careful.” She sighed heavily. “Teenager girls can be rather… they can easily take things the wrong way.” He gave her a curt nod of understanding. Emma watched him leave, women from the future, she thought to herself. She wondered what his future would look like.

~~~

_Dartmouth University June 2023_

“You’re a fucking King, Arthur. What kind of a graduation present is that?” Arthur yelled as he walked around the quad of the nearly empty Dartmouth campus with a bottle of half drunken vodka in his hands.

Henry rolled his eyes as he followed his friend around the camps. That had officials graduated a few hours ago but he was sure that it could still somehow be redacted if someone found out about their drunken disturbances late at night. “You’re over reacting.” Henry replied gently as he tried and failed to swipe the bottle from his friend’s hands.

“Past. Simenot.” Arthur slurred as he slumped against one of the benches in the warm summer night heat. “Didn’t you do all this?” He said loudly in Henry’s face as he sat down next to him offering physical support.

Henry was silent. He had been a little kid when all this had become a reality for him. It would be twelve years, twelve years this October since he brought Emma to Storybrooke. Now he couldn’t really remember what life had ever been like before she had been there. His childhood memories were already beginning to slip through his brain and he wasn’t even twenty two yet. “I was a kid. I didn’t have the ability to get drunk.” He replied finally.

“She’s gonna be night, so Henry?”

“What?”

“Are. You. Going. To. Be. My. Knight?” He said his head throwing back as he looked up at the sky.

Henry laughed. “Yeah, Sir Henry of the round table at your service.” He muttered as he saluted. Would be follow him loyalty into anything that came there way? Henry figured that given the chance he very well might. It was the type of a person he was, but somehow he couldn’t see himself with the armor on a horse as they rode into battle. A trusted advisor, a loyal comrade, but the idea of a literal Knight In shining armor did not seem to fit him.

“Well?” Arthur asked, he was beginning to turn pale and Henry knew it would be best if he could get him inside as quickly as possible now.

“Yeah, I’ll be your knight.” Now let’s go back to our apartment before anybody sees us.” He said as he placed an arm under Arthur and began to carry him back to their apartment.

Somehow they managed up the stairs though two flights seemed to take half an hour as they slowly made their way up. Arthur flopped down on the couch clearly exhausted and overwhelmed. “Don’t I have to pull a sword from a water lady?” He moaned like a child as he rolled over on his side holding a blanket over himself as sleep began to win him over.

Henry gave a small laugh. “In the stories you pull one sword from a stone, and get another one gifted to you from the lady of the lake.” He whispered as he watched him begin to fall asleep but he knew Arthur had not heard him.

He looked around the room, there were bottles and cups mixed in with the wrapping paper and food scraps scattered around the room. He could clean it all up in the morning, he decided as he looked at the clock and sighed. It was later than he thought as he walked into his bedroom and sat down on his bed, pulling out his phone and scrolling through the contact lists.

She picked up on the second ring. “Henry is something wrong?” Regina said. He had clearly woken her up, it was nearly two in the morning but her voice was alert.

“Um…. No not really. Just….. Have you ever heard of the kingdom of Camelot?”

“Only in stories…. I never heard of a real one, why?” She asked but she already knew what he was going to say. She was going to hate the gloating which Emma would do in the years to come.

“Arthur. Arthur Penn my roommate for the past four years. His father just told him that he is King Arthur of Camelot. It’s real and….. I have to help him.”

“Okay.” She replied weakly over the other end of the phone. “What do you need from me?”

“I was just wondering what you knew?”

He could hear the smile. “I know less than you Henry, but I will try and find out whatever I need to know.”

“Okay.” He whispered. “I’ll call you back in the morning.”

In the days to follow he would travel to Camelot, via a doorway located in the upper floor of the hall of doors. It had little resemblance to the cold and dreary English Castle which it had always been in his storybooks. This Camelot was a castle of red and white stone, nestled between the sea and a chaparral forest of olive trees. It had countless windows and archways to let in the light and breeze from the ocean in the warmer months. And in the great hall, the lyrical round table which one day would be emblazoned with the names of those who were worthy enough to sit at it.

It would be the life Henry found himself living, a new story which he never imagined he would be a part of. He was there when Arthur pulled the sword from the titular stone and plunged it back in time and time again until he himself believed that he was the king he was born to be. He was there when a crowd was placed upon his head, when he was gifted Excalibur and when he married Guinevere. In time he began to show his own role which he would play in the foundation of Camelot, as his own magical abilities beyond that of an author began to take form. He wasn’t destined to be knight, like Arthur had asked him to be. Henry took a different place at the round table, as he adopted the name of Merlin.

As his family all participated in the new life of king and queens and evil witches, occasionally they would remember the days when their lives were nothing like this at all. But those days were long gone, at least for most of them.

~~~

_Storybrooke, 2017_

The three sisters walked along the sea shore, laughing as they chased after the eldest one.

“Who is he?” Lucy said as she reached down and threw a stone into the water, watching as it skipped against the rough waves before it sunk.

“I’m not telling you that.” Caroline said with a shake of her head. They had been at her for nearly twenty four hours over the identity of her husband. But it she had managed to keep it secret for four years she could manage a day of their pestering easily.

“Are you a princess?” Addy called out as she chucked a rock into the ocean as well.

Caroline laughed. “What are you talking about? You already know that technically…”

“No are you a double princess? Did you marry a prince? Are you secretly the Disney Princess you so desperately desired to be with a sparkly tiara and everything?” Addy teased even as her older sister pushed her into the chilly Atlantic.

“Did you have to Lion King your firstborn?” Lucy said as she raised her hands above her head. “In front of all your husbands subjects cause you certainly didn’t do it in front of your own.”

Caroline crossed her arms as real anger began to rise within her. “I don’t know where you are getting all these ideas.”

“Oh we can make assumptions to who the man you married is. You’ve have to had known the man for a long time and chances are it is also someone who we didn’t seem much of in the past two years.” Lucy replied with a smile.

“He could have been fighting, he could be a knight for all you know.” Caroline replied in an attempt to confuse them.

Lucy shook her head. “He wouldn’t do that to you, he has too much honor to leave you at home with a young child and no help.”

“Are you a double princess? A secret double princess agent of two kingdoms.” Addison laughed. “Cause I would really like to see that.”

“Or does Dad not know that you married into the royal family of Arendelle?” Lucy whispered.

Caroline punched her hard in the arm. “And how would Dad react if he knew that you went on a date with Will Scarlet.”

Lucy scoffed. “Considering I also hexed the man I think I would be honorably knighted.”

“Hey.” Addison said seriously gesturing at the two figures which was walking towards them from the other end of the beach. The teenagers approached them silently standing shoulder to shoulder looking into one another’s faces with laughter as they paid little attention to what was in front of them.

It was Henry and Lily. It was strange to look at the somewhat moody teenager and realize that he was the same man who they knew from their own time period. The Henry they knew was different, calm always with an answer or a plan, always seeming to know what would happen next, and the reputation and abilities as a powerful magician also seemed to help. But this was just a teenaged boy, more concerned about the girl next to him, than what his life would look like when he left for college in two years. He could hardly be bothered to wonder who he could be to the world outside of Storybrooke. But they knew.

The teenagers stopped as they saw the three women skipping stones.  “Hi.” Henry said breathlessly as he watched the three adult women turn and look at them. The idea that they were from the future was exhilarating to him. He wanted to know what the world would look like even ten years from now.

“Hello Henry.” Caroline said in a deep voice as she picked up a pebble and tossed in up and down in her hands. “I don’t think that you have formally met my sisters yet. This is Mia and Darcy.”

“Nice to meet you.” Addison said as she stretched out her hand to her older brother. Henry shook at it, but he looked at them wordlessly, and somehow it was clear from his expression that he knew about them somehow. He had figured it out, perhaps on his own, perhaps not. He gave a small nervous laugh. “And you are?” She said even though she knew full well who the girl next to him was.

“Lily.” She said shaking Addison’s hand.

Caroline looked at them both “You know then. Don’t you?” Caroline began, “You know that we are….different than most of those who pass through this town.”

“There was a time in which you wouldn’t be at all different to the people who came and went through this town.” Henry replied. “You have magic. You’re witches.” Lily looked temporarily surprised but it was easy for her to accept the fact.

“Not all of us.” Addison replied with a roll of her eyes.

Lily laughed as she looked at them with curiosity. “Why are you here, how did you get here? I thought after… well I thought no more magic would be able to come into Storybrooke.”

“It was a mistake.” Lucy stammered. “I mean, we meant to come to Storybrooke, just the one from our time period.”

Lily looked between the older women and Henry, who gave her a small nod of confirmation “And when is that?”

“Oh you would love to know wouldn’t you?” Addison laughed as she looked at her sisters. They had never really discussed how much of that lie they were going to with. How far in the future they were from.

“You’re not going to tell us are you?” Henry said with a small nod. “That’s okay I mean, I guess you want to avoid spoilers. But a hint?”

“The future.” Lucy replied briskly. “More than one year, less than a hundred.”

“What’s the future like? Do you know what is going to happen to us?” Lily asked excitedly. She paused her face falling. “You know who we are, don’t you.”

Caroline nodded. “You were once Princess Tiger Lily of Neverland.” She said softly.

Lily nodded as she looked at the three of them. “That thing on your neck, I’ve seen it before.” She snapper her eyes coming alive as she pointed at Addison. “It was three waves on gold not two but it was nearly the same.”

Henry was looking at her hopefully, joyful at the possibility of cracking open the case of who they really were. “Where did you see it?”

“Neverland, of course.” She scolded him. “There was a ship, a great huge beautiful ship it only came to Neverland twice and that was the banner it waved.”

“Who did it belong to?” Henry said.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I only ever saw the captain once, it was a woman, but I never knew her name.” She said somewhat sadly.

“Would my Dad know?”

“Maybe.”

Henry turned and looked back at Addison. “I’m sorry, it doesn’t really concern you does it. It’s the past and you’re from the future right?”

“Yes the future.” Addison replied trying to hide her concern over their line of questioning.

“What were you talking about anyways before we interrupted you, you seemed rather in a lively discussion?” Lily asked.

“Oh, the mystery man who she has been married to for four years and never told us about.” Addison said as she pointed to her sister. Henry looked at her with raised brows, clearly intrigued. “Tell me you ware Grandma’s wedding dress” She laughed.

Lucy rolled her eyes “Why because you’re jealous you didn’t get to wear it at your wedding

Addison snickered. “No ‘cause I’ve secretly always through it was hideous.”

Caroline let out a gasp, “I can’t…. you would wish that on your elder sister. I mean… not all of us had to have the week long affair that was your royal wedding extravaganza.”

Addison mocked shock. “My wedding was spectacular and we all know that.” She said as she shook her head. “Please tell me at least Mom and Dad were there and you didn’t elope.” She added more seriously.

“They were there.” Caroline replied softly.

“You also realize that when the war is over you are going to have to have a second wedding ceremony with all the pomp and circumstance.” Lucy said as she picked up a stone and skipped it across the sea. “This makes me the old maid of the family.

“You’re twenty four you’re not an old maid.”

“Nearly twenty five, and both of you were married by the time you were twenty four.”

“Be your own person Luce.” Caroline replied calmly.

“Luce.” Henry replied. They had forgotten that he was there. He looked at them all somewhat suspiciously, it had been the first time he had ever heard any of them mutter anything about who they really were.

“I shouldn’t have said that.” Caroline replied with a look of disappointment on her face.

Henry shook his head, suddenly fearing that they would pull back from him. He wanted to get to know them, to know who they really were. But now he felt as if he had blown his chance. “No its okay, I won’t say anything, if that is your real name.” He said with an innocent smile as he looked at Lucy. “You said you came to Storybrooke, where you in another realm? If you had to come back to Storybrooke thought a portals it’s just…. Well where we’re you. Was it the Enchanted Forest, Neverland, Arendelle?”

Addison gave a small laugh. “Somewhere else. Somewhere I don’t think you know of.” She replied with a smile.

“Can you tell me? Can you at least tell me the names you go by in that realm, the roles you play? I want to know something… I’m curious.”

He was a lover of stories, and the three women before him represented a brand new story which he had never heard of before. And like any good avid reader he was desperate to know all about their lives and experiences.

The sisters shared a glance, he seemed honest enough in his questioning of them. But there was no way in which they could tell him the truth. It would jeopardize their future, even though they could trust him with the secret of who they would one day become Henry having that very knowledge could change everything. If he was to know that the violent teenager Caroline would turn out to be a loyal knight, if he learned that Lucy would straddle both worlds or that Addison would one day be Queen. He may treat them different if he had not known.

“There are those who call us the lost Princesses of the Stormlands.” Lucy said with a smile falling across her lips as she looked at her sisters slyly.

“Lost?” Lily scoffed.

“Well strictly speaking we’ve never been lost, but the Stormlands were.” Addison added “For over a…. for a very long unspecified amount of time, the Isles known as the Stormlands were lost to the Seas themselves.”

They looked to Caroline, as they passed around the made up tale like popcorn. “Our family had lived in Storybrooke for generations, and had all but given up hope of ever going back to their lands.”

“But then three sisters were born, the eldest and youngest who were blessed with the gift of magic, and so a new hope appeared.”

Addy leaned into Henry with a smile. “They’re always very keen on reminding me that I don’t have magic. And yet they always seem to forget that I am very skilled in other areas.”

Caroline continued on loudly. “And so it was for told that one day three princesses would return to the Seas which once held the Storm lands on the backs of three dragons, whose fire would boil the seas and return the Isles to their rightful place.”

Henry looked at her with a raised brow. “You’re lying, that’s not the really who you are.”

“No it’s not.” Lucy said with a shake.

“Tell me the real story.”

Caroline looked at him with a stony gaze. “Real stories can’t be told, they have to be lived.”

He looked at her with a sigh, he had expected half as much. “Guess I’ll have to wait and see then won’t I?”

“Yes you will Henry Mills, yes you will.” Addison replied in the ruling voice of a queen.

**

_The Real Tale of the Black and White Knight_

Caroline looked at the signals before her. She had done her trainings, been a squire in the sense of that job still existing, but now it was time for her to choose her own legacy. She looked at the signals before her, lions and dragons each of them embroidered almost pomposity on the cloth before her. She looked at the one Addison had chosen, The White Swan against a grey background. They would all be expecting her to choose that one, to be known as the Grey Knight, The Swan Knight, or some other ridiculous nickname of the sort. But that wasn’t who she was.

She didn’t see the world in grey, she didn’t make decisions which made her morally grey. No she strutted the line between good and evil, between black and white. Never fully commenting to one of those choices but it was who she was, there was no arguing in her mind. She was not grey, it didn’t seem to suit her at least in her own mind. She looked down at the swords at her feet, they had been given to her as an offering, as a mark of her family tradition on this occasion as she was to be knighted. The sword of her grandfather, the man who was known in this world as Prince Charming. It was a broadsword, gleaming silver and immaculately polished, as if it had in fact never been used in battle. The other sword at her feet was scratched, marked, it’s silver no longer glimmering as it once had three hundred years ago. Its hilt had been tarnished by years of expose to salt water, it was the sword of her father, that of a pirate.

She looked at the swords before her, one was the sword of a good man, and one was the sword of a bad man. She been on both sides in her lifetime she wished that she could choose both swords, but that would be strange and silly to be the two sword knight. They could make her a new one, in years she probably would have a new sword after destroying either one of these in battle. The sword of a good man and the sword of a bad man. Hadn’t her father been both. That sword had seen him through his own dark days and it had seen him through those when he transitioned when he reformed the very core of who he had once been.

Caroline bent down, knowing which sword she was going to choose without any hesitation and set off to see the seamstress. She could make her own way in the world that was what her mother had always told her. You never have to follow the patches of those before you. You can forge a new one. Maybe you will stumble and fall a few more times, but it is always an option.

She wasn’t the grey knight, she wasn’t in between she couldn’t be colored any one shade, she couldn’t be labeled any one idea. That was impossible. Her whole life she had been more than just one thing, she had been so many ideas and traits put together.

All she would need for the ceremony was a cloak, the specialized armor would take months to finish. But she ran off down the halls to the dresser knowing what she needed for the ceremony in two days’ time. “Make me a cloak of Black and White pieced together, with a Swan as the emblem.” She said breathlessly. She was after all still a Swan at the very core of things.

And so two days later when she stood in the hall with all the other new knights with a cloak of white and black around her shoulders. She bent down on her knees, as the King’s sword tapped at her shoulders, and when she rose she had a new name. Sir Caroline Swan, the black and white knight.

**

_The Tale of the Queen of Land and Sea_

She had been fourteen when they had decided at the table in her parents’ home that it would be Addison who would rule over the lands of the Enchanted Forest. They had argued over where they should wait till she was eighteen to let her actually rule, if someone should fill in for four more years, but Addison had shook her head. They was no point in delaying the inevitable, there was no point in showing any weakness of her part.

As a child she had heard the tales of the Queen of the Seas, of the daughter of a princess and a pirate who every sailor no matter their allegiance bowed down to. She had wanted to be that Queen, and now at the age of fourteen she feared she never would be. Lucy would take the title in time, or that she had chosen to be a more formal Queen. She would stand at the bow of a ship and raise her brazen voice as she commanded those before her. But when she imagined that scene it was not Lucy who she saw standing on the deck with the banner of three waves flapping behind her, it was herself.   

She had been coordinate on a sunny spring day. She was a Queen, but not the type of a Queen who she had imagined herself to be all those years ago. She had a crown placed on her head and she began the life of ruling over a Kingdom she had never truly imagined being her own. She had expected to find little freedom as she queen, she had assumed that her every move would be shadowed with a large detail of security, that every move she made would be carefully watched. Yet her most protective Knight who was always at her side was Caroline. Who hardly ever seemed to be imposing when it was her own sister?

Yet still after a few months of staying in her Castle it came time for Addison to venture beyond her own boundaries and travel to meet Elsa the Queen of Arendelle. “I would advise that you raise different banners your majesty.” One of her advisors had muttered as she looked around her table of men and women older than her who still told her what to do. “Morgan knows that the forest has pledged alliance to Camelot and she may attempt to attack any vessels marked as such.”

“Fine.” Addison said a tiny idea coming across her as she looked at them all sitting at the roundtable. It wasn’t like the one that Arthur had, the names of those chosen to sit at the fourth seats did not magically appear, but it still held the same form and function.  “Then erect banners of gold with three black waves upon them for all our ships.”

“Addison.” She turned as she heard the hiss of warning come from her grandmother’s lips. “You cannot claim that right-”

“I have every right to claim that title for my own. Am I not in fact the daughter of a princess and a pirate? I can and I will be the Queen of the Seas.” She said loudly as she declared the title for herself, making up the decision in her own mind that this was who she would be.

“You cannot hold two titles.” Came a wheezed squeak from someone.

“Are kingdoms not often united by marriages? This is no different, I have equal right to both titles, and if none of my sisters wished to be the Queen of the Seas, than I shall.”

“But there is no president.” Snow White muttered

“All traditions must begin somewhere.” Addison replied with a smile. And so the Queen of the Enchanted Forest also became the Queen of the Seas. “I’m going to need a new cloak, and a new crown.” She muttered as she took off the one on her head and turned to see Caroline with a proud smile on her face. “Want to do the honors?” She said as she tossed the piece of silver to her.

Caroline caught it with one hand. She looked at it with apprehension, almost as if she was afraid to hold the symbol of power which she knew she would only ever abuse if it fell into her hands. “What do you want? Vines and rope?”

Addison nodded watching as her sister’s magic transformed the Crown which had been a forest of tangled silver trees upon her head with twisted anchors and sea shells add a base of silvery rope in as well.

Caroline handed it back to her, as Addison began to hand her the cloak. Grey velvet with a white Swan upon it, the inside made of a finely woven tapestry print. “I don’t know want you want.” Caroline said with a raised brown.

Addison didn’t know what she wanted either. The last Queen of the Seas had died over two hundred years ago and while she knew that her father had once meet the woman, he had never descrambled what she wore rather than general pirate gear. “I guess just… add a trim of three black waves on the bottom… I would add the other signals of the previous Queens but….” She only knew the one.

“Rook, Sun, Fish, Bear and a Tree.” She turned to look at her Grandmother who was blushing. “So I guess not every little girls reads so ardently about the tales of the Queens of the Sea.” She added.

“Add those as well.” Addison added as she watched her new earing take place before her eyes.

**

_The Tale of the Green Maiden_

Lucy shifted beneath the horse. She had never been fully comfortable in riding, and now it was her only means of transportation. Yet still she said little in the way of complaint as she traveled with the band of fighters marked as artisans and scholars.

“You know they have begun to call you the Green Maiden.” Charlie replied with a small smile as he pulled his horse up alongside her.

Lucy turned and laughed. “Do they know I am not a maiden?” She said as she looked at the traveling band before them.

“I don’t think that matters.” Charlie replied.

 She shrugged “Why the Green?” She muttered as she pulled on the reins of the horse correcting its course. If only she could use her magic on the creature it would be so much easier.

“Because they often find you surrounded by the greenery of the forests… and you always wear green.”

She smiled “I like the forest.” She replied softly. “Alone in the forest is where I can think.” She was fond of hiking out into the woods, to find a place where she was all alone, where there was nothing except her and the trees and ferns. There she could hear her own thoughts properly without worrying about what anyone else seemed to think of her. “I wish I could be the green scholar.” She murmured

She missed studying, reading books, spending her time in the quite confines of libraries. “One day you will get back to that life.” He whispered

“Besides, you’re known the red rider.” She ignored him as she looked at him in jest.

“Because the Dragon I ride is red.” Charlie replied as he pulled away from her. But he wasn’t riding dragons now, and she wasn’t reading books either.

**

The sun was beginning to set as Caroline grabbed the car keys in her hand, clutching onto the cold metal as she looked around the apartment. She needed to clear her head, she needed to think on her own without any of them bothering her. There had been too many truths in the past forty eight hours.

“I’m going for a drive.” She called out

Addison looked up at her with a small nod. But Lucy stood. “Can I come?”

She looked at her little sister, at her bouncy hair and big eyes. Lucy had been the baby of the family, she had gotten almost everything she had ever wanted. “Sure” Caroline felt herself breathe, even though she really didn’t mean the words.

Lucy said nothing as they drove, the sun blinding as it set off in the western horizon as they drove silently up the winding coastal roads.

_My lover’s got humor, she’s the giggle at a funeral..._ The radio was playing loudly as Caroline’s fingers spun at the dial to turn the volume almost up to the maximum as she muttered the words under her breath.

Her face was twitching as the beams of the oncoming traffic flashed upon her. Tears were swimming in her eyes as she screamed along with the song.

_I was born sick, but I love it._

Caroline’s whole body was shaking, her eyes trying to focus on the road as her voice rang out in a raw scream. _Take me to church…._ Lucy saw it on her face, the regret at what she had done. How the truth was cutting her up on the inside as she came to face the truth of her life. She had hidden her life from all of them, in the attempts of keeping the people who she loved safe. But now everything had been upturned and Caroline was just as lost as a rock in the sea. The man she loved was somewhere wondering where she was, as she feared that her child would never know its mother, and her sisters were both teasing and making jokes. Lucy had seen her broken before, but never like this.

_I’ll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife._ Lucy reached out a hand, placing it on the steering wheel as she helped Caroline pull to the side of the road. She shut off the radio as Caroline cut the engine and they looked out at dark ocean as cars passed by quickly behind them on the highway.

“It’s the blacksmith isn’t it?” Lucy said breathlessly as she dared not look at Caroline but could tell from her breath of the confirmation.

“What can make you so possibly sure of that?” She was trying her best to sound vehement, but she only sounded like a child.

"I know you better than you know yourself."  Lucy replied feeling a smile form across her face as she looked at the stars coming out above

Caroline scoffed "Really?”

"Well I have looked up to you my whole life.  I think by now I should know you better than that."

“You looked up to me?” Caroline head turned to look at Lucy in the dark car.

"You're my big sister of course I looked up to you." She whispered

“I wasn't exactly the best role model was I?"

"No you weren't, but the fact that you had problems, the fact that you struggled with everything, it makes you more human. It makes you seem more real. It made me want to aspire to be someone more like you because you made it through the dark side."

“Addy never looked up to me did she?”

“God no” They both laughed “But then again Addy never looked up to nobody but herself, she can be a bit conceited at times can't she?”

“Yeah she can.”

Lucy reached out and placed a comforting hand on her older sister’s shoulder. “We’ll make it back somehow. We have to.” They couldn’t very well stay here forever.

“I was an idiot to try and hide my life from everyone.”

“It’s a war, you were only doing what you thought was best.” Lucy replied reassuringly. She looked at her sister’s face. She had seen Caroline defeated before, she had seen her when she was feeling low but this was something different all together. She was hopeless, afraid of losing everything she loved and more importantly terrified about what that possibility would do to her. “You made a good decision Caroline, you kept them safe and alive. You were brave. You’re always brave.”

She was crying, Lucy had only ever seen Caroline cry on very few occasions. She felt as if she was looking at something far too personal, as if she was almost intruding as she pulled her into a hug in order to hide her own face which was visibility unsure of what emotions to be expressing. She rubbed her sisters back in a comforting motion. It was all going to be okay, they just had to do their parts.


	10. Residue

Caroline hurried through the hallways watching the band students walk with their bassoon cases hugged to their chests through the wide corridors. She had five minutes to get back to the gym and scarf down her lunch before the influx of students came. Students wanting to ask her questions, boys wanting a basketball to start a pickup game and cheerleaders wanting to practice. Which was why when she returned to the gym she was startled to see someone in her office three minutes before lunch officially began.

She looked at the boy who was sitting across from her desk in surprise.  “When did you know that you were a witch?” Henry asked her.

She sat down at her desk taking a frustrated bite out of her sandwich. She had known that at given the events of the past few days it was highly likely that he knew who she really was. She had basically admitted to being a witch on the beach the other day, but Henry being so flippant about such a sensitive matter made her wonder what could possibly be running through his teenaged mind.

Caroline looked up at Henry assuming complete and utter shock would be the best reaction “I’m sorry what?” She asked her brother

“When did you know that you were a witch, that you had magic?” He asked in a slower tone, making it perfectly clear what he understood the implications of what he was asking her.

"Well I've always had magic."  Caroline replied

But he was not satisfied, "No, when did you know that you _had_ magic?"  He asked with a shake of his head. The stress on the idea if her knowing made her even more curious about his thought process.

She had to stop and consider his question. It had always been something she had had something which she could do. Her mother having magic had been part of the reason it had been such a norm in her life. "It was never a matter of knowing when I had magic, it had been a matter of knowing that everyone else did not."

He was honestly staggered by her answer.  "Go on..."  He said enraptured.

She reflected on the best way of veiling the truth. Her mother had tried to keep magic a secret to them, but that plan had not lasted long. Knowing the truth about fairy tale identifies, how Emma had managed to keep that a secret for fourteen years was nothing short of a miracle. But knowing that magic was real, that was something unspoken.

 "I come from a family of magic. Not everyone has it, but enough do that it's isn't much if a marvel. When I got older, school aged and stuff, I learned through some rather interesting trial and error that not everybody has magic."

"But you’re from Storybrooke."  He replied flatly.

"Yes” she nodded

"And you have magic? People in your family have magic, and you’re from Storybrooke?"

She laughed in his face, a large hollow laugh which would almost seem cruel if it were not for the look of enjoyment on his face. "Yes Henry, you’re absolutely correct I am from a magical family from Storybrooke in the future, is that so hard to believe?"

"No it’s just....."  His voice trailed off again and suddenly Caroline began to wonder why he had come to talk to her in the first place. He was trying to get to the root of her magical awakening, but she had never I'm her life asked about his.

"Henry do you...." She paused shaking her head knowing that the less direct way was the better. “I showed magical abilities at a very young age but my little sister, she didn't until she was seven."

A light seemed to go on in his head, as if he suddenly knew that he wasn't the exception to the rule. "My mom Emma, she didn’t… not until he came here.”

"Henry, can't you...Your mother's both have magic, surely you can ask them if you have questions about it."

He shrugged, his face looking rather self-conscious. "If you’re a witch too. Why did you wait to talk to my  mom’s about your situation?"

He was trying to run circles around her but she wouldn’t let him. "Because I'm from the future."  Caroline replied, talking with them would only make things more complicated.

"Exactly." He said.

She bit her lip understanding what he was not asking. "Henry I'm just going to go out on a limb and assume you want to know something about the future, something which has to do about you?"

He nodded sheepishly. "I think I have magic."

Knowing the answer to his assumption did not make it any easier to not act surprised. "Why don't you talk to your mother's about this?"

"Because-" He let out a large puff of air. "They would panic and freak out and run around like chickens with their heads cut off as they tried to figure this out and... I'm hoping you know the answer."

She sighed, she had not been expecting this when he had come into her office. Why he felt that she was the right person for the job she was uncertain.  "You know Henry I am sure that there are people who are better suited to answer these questions than me."

"But they're all related to me you’re impartial." He moaned

How wrong he was. "Ok Henry. Why do you think you have magic?" she caved in to his request.

"Because weird things keep happening to me, weirder than before and because ... All things considered I should have magic given my family tree."

"You know no one has figured out the genetics here and magic can be a learned skill. There are a lot of types of magic too, good magic, fairy magic, dark magic. The question isn't whether or not you have magic but do you want magic."

He looked at her uneasily, clearly that was part of the question at hand in his mind. "My mom said that you know who everyone really was, the story book characters they really were. You know about my family history don't you?" Caroline nodded. "I don't know if I should have magic, given what some people in my family have done with that power."

"Henry let me tell you a secret about who I am really am. I was about your age when I learned about the true extent of my magic, I leaned that I had equal amount of light and dark magic. I could just as easily have gone bad as I could have gone good. I made a choice, and it wasn't always easy, but the good choices we make should challenge us to be better people. We choose the paths we take, even if there are forces beyond us there are still choices that make us who we are. "

But he still didn't seem convinced. "But if I do have magic, it's really as simple as that"

She felt as if he was being short sighted is if he was forgetting about the past which he had witnessed.   "There isn't exactly a litmus test for magic but of you want to figure this out more come and see me today after school."

"Here in the gym?"  He shook his head "No I don't want somebody seeing. Don't you have a house?"

"I have an apartment underneath your grandparents loft." she replied raising her eyebrows suggesting that perhaps it wouldn't be the best place to meet but it seems suitable enough to Henry who nodded enthusiastically.

"I'll meet you there then. At three."

She wanted you shake her head and tell him know, that this was a conversation he needed to have with his parents, she even wondered if she should mention it to Regina. But he was looking at her with such hope, glad to have found someone who he didn't know was family who could help him. And even if he didn't know it yet, Caroline had been in the same position which he had once been in.

"I'll see you at three."  She replied with a fake smile as he bounded out of the room.

 

**

"She fucked up over this, isn't she?"  Lucy muttered

"Well were all a little bit fucked up."  Addison replied sweetly using her sisters wording with a smile.

"It’s always such a pleasure to hear a queen curse." Lucy replied as they both sat on the couch on the quite weekday afternoon. Neither of them had work that particular morning and while they were both secretly longing to go beyond the confines of the town their conversation topics were nothing which could risk being overheard. "I'm serious though, Caroline left a lot behind I can understand why she hates being here again."

"I don't think she hates it Lucy."

Lucy shook her head "Her son and her husband are hidden away and she may never see them again. It’s not just about getting back for her it's about keeping her family safe. I can't even imagine why she agreed to go and fight anyway in the first place."

Addison leaned into her, rubbing her back gently. "She’s always fought ever since she was little she fought everyone including herself. I think fighting is part of Caroline’s identity I don't think she knows what to do if she isn't fighting."

But Lucy was unconvinced, yes Caroline was a fighter but by very definition she had to be something more as well, she wasn't just a solider made for battle. She was a witch, a sister, someone who was kind and nurturing if you actually ever met them. Addison had things and people to get back to as well. Suddenly Lucy felt as if a he was the one who had no one in the world, thought she knew that was a lie too. She had people who cared about her, just not as much as her sisters did, not in the same way.

"You don’t want to stay here do you?" Addison asked cautiously “In this time?"

Lucy shook her head rapidly, of course she didn't want to stay in this time. It made everything more complicated than ever before and she did miss the comforts of her own reality. "We should do something nice for Caroline."

Addy nodded “Like what?" But she was interrupted by the door opening and Caroline herself running into the room running about it frantically and tidying up. "What's going on?"  Addison asked coolly.

"Henry is coming over because he wants to be my little magic apprentice. He's just beginning to put it together that he has magic now and he doesn't want to talk to his parents about it."

"And of course he doesn't realize that you’re his sister." Lucy contributed dully.

"No."  She said as she threw some dishes into the sink "He doesn't know that and-" she stopped as the doorbell rang.

She ran across the living room to open the door dramatically as she looked at Henry with a plastered on grin.

"Come on in."  She gestured stepping aside as he looked around the place with little judgement.

He seemed taken aback by the presence of two other women in the apartment but he still look straight at Caroline as he asked "So are there any spell books which we will be working out of."

She shook her head "We didn't exactly bring any with us, and besides we have to determine if you actually have magic first."

"And how are we going to do that?"  He asked.

"Well what signs of magic have you been showing?"  Lucy asked as she shifted off the couch across the room to get a better look at him.

Henry seemed uneasy as he looked at her but he obliged her calm sweet demeanor "Nothing too exciting, I think. Lights flickering, things always seeming to appear where I want them."

"Can you summon stuff?" Lucy asked him.

"Like, make it appear out if thin air."

"No like, have a pencil which is sitting on a table flying into your hand."  She corrected him.

He gave a shrug to suggest which he had never tried such a thing before. Lucy bounced off the couch, bounding across the room to pull a pen out of her purse and place it on the coffee table. She gave her brother a nod to suggest that he should try and summon it. Henry bit his lip as he looked at the pen as if sizing up an opponent for battle, before gently out stretching his hand and closing his eyes.

He felt a little strange standing in the bare bones apartment with the three sisters from the future watching him as his hand outstretched as he tried to get a pen to fly into it. He tried to clear his mind, but all he could think of was images of seeing other people perform magic mixed in with Jedi training scenes from Star Wars. It was a strange montage which ran through his mind as he tried to contemplate if he even wanted to have magic in the first place.

It could be easily enthralling and stunning, it could be illuminating and used for good, or he knew just how twisted and ruthless the dark side of magic could be. He thought about his little sister Caroline, a three and a half year old who had been conceived of love, luck and dark magic herself. She was going to have to fight against that innate darkness for the rest of her life. Suddenly he was filled with worry at the possibility of his own sister ever becoming as dark and twisted as he knew to be possible. He wanted to leave this apartment and make sure that she never learned about the cruelties of the world.

Why did he have magic?  Caroline made sense, his mother made sense. They were the only people he knew who had been born with it. Regina had learned out of sheer spite, Rumpelstiltskin’s was a tradeoff for a part of his soul. But why did he Henry Mills suddenly have magic? He couldn't find the answer within his own head; his parents weren't true loves, he hadn't been reading spell books in his spare time, he hardly ever thought about magic most days but then again.

"HENRY." His eyes ripped open as he looked at the youngest sister who was grasping onto his hands which were glowing a soft opalescent sheen. "What the hell were you thinking about?"  She asked with a lark as her fingers danced in the air above his hands.  They moved like that of a concert pianist playing and airy song as she spun a ball for his soft energy in front of her. With every twist and turn of her fingers it glowed a different shade reflecting against surface, purple, red, green, pink, blue. It sound it he air above her as she and her sisters all looked at it.

"You’re a wizard now Henry." The middle one stated with a smile.

It didn't come as half a shock as looked at his magic before him. "Is it good magic?" He asked with a childlike innocence. The eldest gave a nod. "How do you know?"

She closed her eyes for a, moment and produced a ball if energy as well. Where's his only changed color with a change if perspective hers was gold streaked with dark disintegrating bands of black which swirled and tore apart as if they were at war. The youngest sister created one as well, but hers was simply golden.

"Surprisingly she doesn't have a dark bone in her body."  Caroline muttered as the balls of magic faded away.

"It’s not physically possible to have any dark bones." Lucy rolled her eyes and as she sat down again.

"Is you heart black?"  Henry asked Caroline ignoring what the sister’s quips.

She shook her head. "I told you I was born with both with equal amount light and dark magic, but as you can see the dark side is losing”

"How were you born with dark magic?"

"It was an accident." She whispered

He could tell from the expression on her face that asking any more would be a bad idea. "Why was mine white?"

They looked at each other quickly. "Don’t know.”  Addison muttered. "There are a lot of theories on a lot of different things these days."

He sat down on the couch looking at them with dull shock. "But how did I get magic?"

He didn’t look at any of them in particular and yet the three sisters each looked at one another, none of them knowing what the answer to his question really was.

Lucy had her eyes closed in deep concentration "Things changed after Elsa left town.” She breathed in a distant voice. “It didn't happen. The whole mess with the author it never happened." She opened her eyes, as they darted around the room wildly.

"What are you talking about?" All three of them seemed to ask in unison.

Lucy was on her feet pacing back and forth as she talked to herself with her face scrunched up in confusion. "There was no alternate book world, she never went dark, Arthurian legend happened but not in the same way. We got to the same place but in a different way and because of that..."

"How do you know all that?"  Henry asked as he leaned forward on the couch, leaning over the side to look at her with wonder.  "Can you see the future?"

"No I…"  Lucy paused, her face falling as her brain caught up with the words which she had just been spouting from her mouth. "It’s like two paths diverging in the woods. And I can see both of them. I can see all of them. One moment and one decision and suddenly they’re bursting out from one singular moment all the different possibilities and paths, parallel, perpendicular, merging and colliding into an imperfect web.”

“Well that’s a new and terrifying trick from up your sleeve.” Addison muttered as she watched Lucy sit back in a daze. “A web, like a spider web.” She added thinking of the broken watch which Caroline had found when they first came to town.

Lucy ran a hand through her hair, “Sort of.” She mumbled.

Caroline looked at her with a steely reserve, firmly asking her what could not be said in present company. "What are you trying to say?"

Lucy took a moment to take a deep breath and compose herself. "The stories don't always happen in the same way. Think about the version of Beauty and the Beast which we saw as kids, completely different from the real version."

"So what are you saying, how do I have magic?" Henry asked her with a shake of his head.

Lucy knew the answer but she also knew that she couldn't tell him, that was someone else's job. "I don't know, that beyond me. We someone who knows more than us."

“And who is that?” Caroline scoffed. “Rumpelstiltskin?”

“The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” Henry smiled. They turned and looked at him, unclear of his plan. “He’s still trapped nobody ever let him out. All that stuff is still down in my Mom’s vault. He’ll know, he has to know. Come on what are you waiting for.” He said as he stood up, suddenly filled with so much hope and excitement at the possibility of real answers. Henry raced down the stairs, the three women after him as they set off in the car hearts pounding at the possibilities of answers.

Getting the box had been easy, Regina had locked it away years ago along with the broom stick. Henry could easily slip into her crypt and meet them out on the woods behind it with ease. They all stood in the woods, their breath hanging in the air as the eldest and youngest bent over it examining it.

Henry stood next to Addison who was experiencing a new kind of uselessness. "You know my dad Killian was the one to trap him in there."  Henry remarked off handedly.

"Really” she feigned surprise. "He doesn't seem like the type."

"He was Captain Hook." 

She gave him a curt nod as she watched both Lucy and Caroline spring to their feet.  "Stand back."  The later yelled as the small well brimmed with magic.

It was a glowing steaming overflow which came as the top of the container turned viscous the old man firming from the mist. He looked up at his rescuers with a baffled expression. "How long was I out?"  He asked as he looked at Henry who had clearly and visibly aged.

"About four years."  He said helping the man up. "Sorry about that, I think you may have been a bit forgotten."

"Oh that's alright." He said as he stood up till and brushed himself off, suddenly gaining his lost gravitas. He caught the eye if the sisters almost recognizing them. "It’s only been four years?" He repeated skeptically.

Caroline smiled slyly at him, wondering how he could possibly recognize them "Were from the future of this town" She whispered, not seeing any point in keeping the truth from him.

The let out a low laugh as he looked around the woods. "This is not the path I thought this town would take."

"What do you mean?"

"There are powers even beyond me which control things, this is not the way I thought the world of Storybrooke would unfold. The old author, I assume is still trapped in the book?"

"Old author?"  Henry asked

"Well of course there can be more than one. And in that book he can stay." He gave a shudder. "That is not a path I wish to head down now. But please do keep me informed about what has happened."

"Yeah let me just, put this away."  Henry said grabbing the box and broom and running back to the crypt. He looked at the sisters with a small smile as he watched Henry disappear. "So you're from the future?" He said with a small exhaustive sigh.

"Don't worry were not here to burn the town down."  Addison replied reassuring.  "You don't...” she paused unsure of how to word her query.  "You don't happen to know us from any stories do you?"

He smiled looking at them up and down thinking for a long enough time that they worried that Henry might possibly come back before he gave an answer. "Three sisters, well there certainly are a handful of stories about three sisters but I can't seem to place you in any of them."

They all seemed to both be content and to believe him as Henry cane back running into the woods.

"Do you have a name?"  Lucy blurted out ruining the gentle moment.

He looked at her with narrowed eyes. He was the apprentice of a great sorcerer clearly, he knew more magic than any of them possibly did. "Long ago I had a name, but I gave spent many a years in the service of another simply being known as an apprentice."

"Yeah I'm going to go with Mickey." Lucy replied sarcastically. "You just look like a Mickey to me. So," She turned to Henry "Where are we going to go and discuss things, the dinner doesn't seem like a good option given the situation.”

He looked around at the woods which surrounding the cemetery. "The mansion." He shrugged “No one lives there, and we won't be overhead."

His sisters looked at him and nodded I'm agreement. Caroline pulled out the car keys which Lucy took them from her hands, her face indicating with an impish grin that she should drive, but it was Addison who got them in the end with a scolding glance on her face

"Well then Mickey, your chariot awaits." Henry laughed as he followed Addison's short red hair through the woods. It was a beacon in the twilight as they pushed past to the side of the road where they had parked to avoid being seen by watching eyes.

"Hurry up professor.” Caroline muttered under her breath as she looked at Lucy who was lagging in the rear.

"Or I'm going to be a permanent resident?” Lucy added

Caroline scowled at her. "Empire." Lucy yelled as she ran through the woods, stumbling on the brambles. "Always reference Star Wars; it should practically be the family motto.”

Addison shook her head. “I can think of a lot better.”

 Lucy snickered at her like a young child teasing behind their siblings back “It's not my fault I’m slow, I'm the only one who doesn't make a living by tramping through a forest."

Henry turned around as he stood beside the car, Addison was already helping the apprentice get in the station wagon. "Goldenrod. The line is 'hurry up goldenrod or you're going to become a permanent resident.’" He corrected Lucy as she made her way up the embankment.

"Just for that."  She huffed as she opened up the hatch of the trunk "You and I are sitting in the fun seats."  She pointed to the small rear facing seating in the back of the station wagon climbing on and buckling herself in and patted the seat next to her indicating for Henry to do the same.

It was cramped as they sat with their knees to their chests on seats meant for children rather than grown adults.  Caroline closed the hatched door behind then with a roll of her eyes.

Best day ever!" Lucy squealed with childish delight as they began to drive away.

Henry turned and gave her a look which clearly suggested the word really.

She chuckled. "Okay not the best day ever but you have to admit it's sort of memorable the day you get to ride in the back of the station wagon.  Definitely top 10 material."

Henry laughed almost having to agree with her as he sat in the car. Caroline, the lone person in the real back seat was reaching over and pressing her knuckles into Lucy back who was squirming and laughing as the motion seemed to tickle her.

"Cut it out,” She said twisting around to swat her older sister in the head. “You’re being a nuisance."

Addison looked at them through the rear view window. “Both of you stop acting like you’re five we have company."

"I don't mind."  Henry yelled back at her.

"I do." Addison retorted. “Natalie you have a son, you need to set a good example for him, and Darcy I know that you are capable better behavior than this."

Both sisters turned around as they approached the mansion and the car came to a stop. “Why you acting like Mom?”  Lucy snapped as she climbed out of the trunk.

Addison didn't reply as they approach the doors, Caroline open them with a wave of her hand and they all stepped inside were.  “I don't know how much time we'll have. They were watching the house before, but I don't know if they are now."

"Well I can vouch for you if it comes to that” Henry shut the he looked up and down the house which he had not been to in years. It seemed as if nothing had changed, and yet he knew that it likely had, and that it certainly would in the future. "Library." it was more direction that a suggestion as he set off in the room which he had once occupied in wonder. Henry didn't know that a few years ago his mothers had met him in this very spot. They had already learned the truth which he was about to. Perhaps the most ironic thing of all is that they would each keep the secret from one another for half of a decade

The old man leaned into Addison as they entered the room, speaking with astonished tones “You are a judge. The decider of punishments and rewards, you’re always able to make a clear decision in the murkiest of circumstances. Are you a respected person in your career?"

She nodded.  "I'm a queen. But why is that important?"

He looked at the other sisters, pointing first at Lucy. "She is the bringer of light. The star, the beacon right light in the darkness which illuminates everything and everyone around them." Then he turned to Caroline "And you are the shadow, the unknown, the unexplored, the dark and the good, trapped in the swirling vortex of possibilities.  You may be more than just these archetypes,  but it is clear that even in the lands you come from you still have roles to play."

"But what does that have to do with me."  Henry asked as he leaned across the desk. Looking at the man with wonder.

Mickey smiled at him, “In the desk drawer I believe there is a key." Henry reached on and pulled out the small key and held it on his hands. “Please give it to one of the witches and let her destroy it."

"Why?"

"That is the key which will unlock the man who was the author of the story book in your possession. For years he followed his duty and did the right thing, but then he began to change the stories to let evil always win. If he is released he will act only in his own interests, and the outcome will be disastrous. Destroy the key and that can never happen."

Henry turned and gave the key to Caroline with a whisper it turned to black ash in her hands. "But doesn't there need to be a new...."  He stopped at he sat down at the desk and opened up the second drawer. It was filled with various writing utensils, pens pencils, Fountain pens, quills and feathers. He reached in and his hands wrapped around a black and gold fountain pen, it glowed in his hands as he placed it on the desk with a smile. “That’s why I have magic I'm the next author."

Mickey nodded as Henry looked around the room with a swell of pride. “Nearly anything you write will come true, there are limits of course. Death almost irreversible, and there are higher powers you must oblige. But any world that you can imagine, that you can create and write down, will become a reality."

"That’s a lot of power for a kid to have." Henry replied

"Yes it is. But I believe give your history you are a more than capable choice."

Henry stood up and walked to the bookshelf pulling off one of the blank books. He set it down on the desk and use the pen to write, and then the Smith sisters were returned to their home time. He looked up expectantly but was disappointed to see that three women still standing there

Mickey cleared his throat.  “Like I said there are some higher powers which have the ability of intervening what you have written. Apparently you cannot write them away. They must go in their own way. And so must I."

"Wait you're leaving aren't you going to teach me?" Henry called out as it appeared the magician begin to fade.

"I am only the apprentice” he replied

"And who is your master?"

"There are many who know him by the name…  Merlin." he whispered into the room before he was gone for good.

They all looked at Henry, the sisters knowing that one day that would be the name he would take up. A circle is round, it has no end. But he wasn't ready to learn that fact just yet.

"So that why I have magic then." Henry replied as he sat down at the desk looking half dazed. "I have the power if an author."

"I guess so."  Lucy replied wearily.

"You guess?"  He mocked her with a raised brow. "You've known this whole time haven't you?"

"Perhaps” Addison shrugged "But it isn't really our information to share."

"My life was never destined to be normal was it?" He stated rhetorically. "God how am I going to tell my parents? What am I even supposed to write?"

"Henry" Lucy cut him off resting a reassuring hand on his shoulder "You have a whole lifetime to figure this out.  Just take a few days to process this. You don't have to write the next great American novel in a week."

He looked up at her and nodded, beginning to accept how this appointment was possibly one if the, most normal things to happen so far in his life.


	11. Gateway

He tapped the pen absentmindedly against the desk, gazing out of the window at the small sliver of sea visible in the distant beyond. He felt as if he should be compelled by some higher power to write, that the most miraculous and inventive idea should just slip into his head as he held the pen on his hand. And yet there was nothing, no character or plot line worthy enough of being written down by this pen and springing off the page into life.  Sure he could think if things, but nothing substantial, nothing earth shattering. He had spent the better part of three days researching writing tips and inspirational quotes online but nothing had struck a chord within him to relieve the mounting tension he felt.

The bedroom door creaked open and he could hear the baited breath of younger siblings awaiting to intrude on his presumed studies.  He spun around in the chair to see both Caroline and Roland holding back giggles as he grinned at them. "Oh what are you two up to?"  He called as he picked up his sister and pulled her up into the chair spinning around the lights flickering gently overhead as she laughed gleefully. He could sense it in her now, the surge of energy that was the magic she possessed.

"Will you play with us?"  Roland said as he looked around the room for toys but he seemed to find none at all which appeased him.

"Play with you?" He looked around at the procrastination all around him. Seeing them as a very good excuse to put off his ventures in writing as well as his school work. He noticed Caroline trying to grab at the pen when he had left on the desk. He swiveled away. "Alright what would you like to do?"

"Roland if the door is closed that means Henry doesn't want you to go in and bother him." Robin popped his head on looking at his son with disappointment. But he caught Henry's eyes with even more intrigue knowing that something was bothering him. Henry was unexpectedly grateful that Robin could see the gnawing inside of him as he herded Roland and Caroline out of his bedroom. "What's going on?"

Henry looked at the pen, knowing he couldn't keep it a secret for so many reasons. "Do you think I could sit down with you and mom, and mom and dad tonight?  Alone?"

"Don't you have plans with Priya tonight?”

"I'll cancel them." He replied quickly.

The willingness of a teenaged boy to cancel his Friday night plans with his girlfriend so quickly made him worried. "I'm sure we can figure something out."

Later that evening the four parents looked at their son with great concern. Each of them had their own worst case scenario about what kind of revelation he was going to make as they watched him from across the table. He closed his eyes feeling very much like Poirot about to solve a case as he gathered the suspects in the drawing room.

"For the past few ... For a while I started noticing some strange things, about me."  He began trying to make eye contact with any one of them but finding it hard when all four were gazing so intently at him to begin with. "I started to think that maybe I had magic."

There was a twitch if surprise from Regina but he continued on without interruption. "I was embarrassed to talk to any of you about it. But when the Smith sisters came to town and I figured if anyone would know for certain it would be people from the future. I asked them to help me, and together we freed to sorcerer's apprentice." He paused catching his breath.

"Well..."  Emma asked impatiently, not at all caring about what had happened to the old man who had once been imprisoned in a box for years. "Do you have, magic?"

He pulled the fountain pen out of his pocket and laid it on the table. "I'm a way. I'm am author."

His mothers turned and beamed at one another. "That took longer than I expected." Emma breathed.

"You knew." He chuckled incredulously "What else do you know?”

"Well that's all we know about this topic."  Regina replied sarcastically. "We met you in the mansion Henry, before Caroline was ever born.  An older version who answered those questions for us."

The mention of himself being able to travel in time seemed to fly over his head entirely. "But.... What am I supposed to do now?"

"Your young, live your life."  Killian barked.

"But I'm the author." Henry retorted stubbornly

"And you don't want to be an author with a narrow world view."  Emma replied "Finish school, travel the world, travel the realms even and write when you want to."

Travel the realms, he thought about the sisters who had fallen back on time. They came from a place in which the realms were trying to be unified.  They had mentioned something about it before, about a house of doors. He could help them, maybe he couldn't write them back to their own time but he could still help create that house of doors.

**

The call had startled her. Not just because it has been early in the morning, she was up always a habit of military service and years of pre-dawn rowing practice, but because she simply hadn’t been expecting it. Henry had only known for a few days that he was in fact an author and yet he was being very gracious in offering to help them in any way possible.

But she didn’t know if helping them was possible.

Caroline walked through the hallways like a wayward ghost, her hands trailing down the walls as she longed for times and places that had yet to happen. Her fists clenched as she felt the anger flow through her. It had been a month and a half, it was nearly October and yet nothing had been accomplished. She was so frustrated, so angry with how victimized she felt. As if there was something not yet realized that she could do to possible change her situation. The silence was deafening as she listened to her own thoughts growing rapidly more high pitched inside of her head as they crescendoed to a breaking point.

Something moved behind her, and even though she could not see the other person she could sense their presence. "Henry I think this is hopeless." She muttered her head shaking from side to side as the doors began to open and close rapidly as her self-control broke down.

Henry stepped forward, his brown eyes timid as he looked at Caroline with fear. Caroline breathed deeply, calming herself down as the feeling her brain pounding inside of her head as her body tried to deliver it enough oxygen subsided.

"I'm sorry." Caroline whispered as she threw her hands up in the air.

"You're powerful." Was all that Henry could reply as he stepped forward and met her eyes.

The pen was clutched in hand. She was so used to seeing the pen in an older man’s hand it was strange to look at the teenager knowing not only his future, but all the stories he had not committed to paper.

"So are you." Caroline replied as she looked at the instrument which was already so at home in his hand. He wouldn’t put together the fact that he was Merlin for nearly another decade.

He looked at her with curiosity “But it's like you’re made of magic and anger. That is runs through your very veins where blood should be."

Caroline pulled her hands away. "I'm not evil." She said her face looking dark as she said it.

Henry nodded remembering the streaked magic she had shown him. “No, but you walk the line don't you? You're tempted all the time to give into the darkness inside, I know what that's like. I know what it is like to fight that darkness.” He remembered the soul of Peter Pan wresting within him toying with who he was as it tricked those around him.

"I have no intention of being evil" Caroline stated. "I'm just... I'm tired of the lack of answers." But she wasn’t willing to do anything to get them, not yet.

"You said it was the House of Doors. Do you know how-"

"I never asked how it came into being." Caroline interrupted him.

She should have, there were so many questions she realized she should have asked now in retrospect. But it made no difference, she was trapped in this other world, in this bubble of the past and there was no possible way she could leave now.

"Why do you bottle up your power?" Her head turned as she looked at Henry, who was looking at her with his own tilted head. "You hide it, you try and contain it, as if you are ashamed?"

"I don't do that." Caroline shook her head.

"Yes you do. You just tell yourself otherwise." Henry smiled as he took her hand "Whoever you are, you are immensely powerful and yet you lie to yourself. Good or bad, you’re not at your potential and we both know that."

“I’m not a character in your story Henry” She yelled, the doors slamming once more in her anger.

She was afraid, afraid of fully letting go. She was terrified of seeing what would happen if she just closed her eyes and let the magic flow through her for once in her life. She was petrified that she would harm someone that she would use it for darkness, that at her very core she was darkness and darkness alone and that for thirty years all she had ever been was pretending. Pretending to be a good daughter, a good sister, a good wife and mother. She didn't want to be evil, so she tried to be nothing at all.

"I know that." He said sharply. “But together I think we can create what you are looking for. You know what it looks like, and I can create it. Take my hand.” He said as he got down on his knees. One hand holding the pen over the notebook at his feet, the other reaching up to Caroline.

“I’m scared.” She uttered.

"You won't hurt me." But she would. Caroline knew in the years to come she would hurt them all in more ways than one. "Close your eyes." Henry said softly and Caroline did as she was told taking his hand. "What do you see?"

"Nothing."

"Then make it into something. Pretending it likes your fingers are resting on a keyboard and you are trying not looking at the words, but just testing that your hands are your heart will work together. That you know where all the letters are, where all the words of the story are without having to look. Feel it, the trust that you have in your own fingers, the power you desire. Then listen to your surroundings, my voice echoing off the hallway. You know what this place should be, you know that you have the power to make it what it needed to be. Trust in the power of your own imagination and the skills you have in your own magic, and then...."

Henry stopped talking as he watched the glow emit from Caroline, as he watched the swirls form around her, snaking out into the hallways, running like a flowing stream as they entered into the very walls of the house. Suddenly it was alive, filled with the force of magic that she had created.

The doors were blooming with colors. One by one down the long corridor as the images appeared, as the symbols and colors of far off distant lands appeared on the doors as Caroline's golden magic seeped into them. He wrote on the paper in a neat slanted cursive.

_And then the witch created the House of Doors._

"Open your eyes." Henry said, his smile apparent in his voice.

Caroline raised her head, looking past Henry as the long hallways of colorful doors a smile forming on her face as she looked at the familiar sight. "I'm still in the past." she added breathlessly.

"Yes, but now you are one step closer to home, and what home should look like" Henry replied as he pulled out his phone. "I need to..."

"Go ahead." Caroline replied as she walked down the corridor, her fingers tracing over the familiar lands.

For a moment, for a very long moment she had allowed more magic than ever to pass through her body. She had given into the forces which she so often strangled, and she had not lost all control. She smiled down at her creation, feeling perhaps for the first time in a forever that she could live with, rather than in fear of her capabilities.

 

Soon the house was filled with other people as Caroline rattled off the lists of places that each door went to. She looked at them all with a strange sense of longing, still not really believing that these were the doorways to world which she had crated until she placed her hand on a handle of a familiar door. It turned opening into a new world beyond. She could feel the eyes behind her as she looked at the forest beyond. The trees were smaller, the overgrowth not as invasive as she looked upon the lands that her sister would one day rule.

“Where is that place?” She heard Emma whisper behind her in a small voice.

“It’s the Enchanted Forest.” Mary Margaret replied. Caroline turned to look at the smile on her face as she pushed through, hopeful at the sight of her homeland.

Emma grabbed onto her mother’s arm and looked at her warningly. “Are you really intending to go there?”

 She looked away from her daughter and towards Caroline “I can get back can’t I?” Mary Margaret asked Caroline.

Caroline nodded. “All you have to do is open the door once more.”

She looked at Emma with a small knowing smile as she pulled her arm away. “Are you coming?”

For the first time in her life Emma was hesitant to go off on some adventure. It wasn’t really an adventure, she knew she could come back, or at least she had enough trust in Caroline’s words, but she also had a life and a family to worry about now. “Yeah just…. Give me a moment.” She said a she pulled out her phone and began to text rapidly.

“Is it safe?” Caroline could feel the warm air on her ear as Mary Margaret whispered into it. “You said there was a war in your time?”

She shook her head, it would be another ten years before that war fully began. Now the forest was just neglected. “That’s not for a very long time to come.” She replied telling only half the truth.

“Mom.”

The women turned and looked at Henry who had a look of childlike innocence on his face. Emma’s mouth fell open as she looked at her son with unsurely. Part of her wanted to protect him, but part of her also knew that it was Henry who had seen so little of the worlds which he would one day so vividly capture. “Come on.” She said as she reached out her hand to her son.

“Really?” Henry breathed with disbelief.

“Don’t let me change my mind.” Emma smiled as Henry took her hand and they both stepped through the doorway to join Mary Margaret and Caroline.

Together the three generations of women, who looked more like close sisters than anything else and Henry looked back through the doorway to Storybrooke. Through a plain doorway they could see the familiar faces staring back at them as Mary Margaret closed the door emblazoned with a red and white striped lighthouse behind them. She looked up at the trees with the same warm sense of achievement that Lucy had on her face when they returned back to Storybrooke, but Emma held all the skepticism which Caroline had held months ago.

“Where are we?” She said as she looked around, skittish.

“We’re about four miles from the palace.” Caroline replied, they were deep within the wooded hills, little sense of direction with the tall pine trees which surrounded them, but there was a downwards slope to the earth beneath them.

The downhill descent was step, making them either go at a near run or a bone crippling slow pace. But none of them seemed to complain as their feet slammed further into the ground with each step as they neared the palace.

“So you’re a descendant of a story book character then aren’t you?” Henry shouted after they had hiked down the path in relative silence for half an hour.

Caroline turned and looked at his incuriously, aware of how both Emma and Mary Margaret had stopped in their tracks to listen to her answer. “What makes you think that?”

“Well your sister was telling me about your uncle telling her stories as a child. That implies that he was the one to live through them not you.”

Caroline shook her head as she continued down the pathway. “I’m going to kill her.” She muttered under her breath. He wasn’t wrong, she should have never doubted his powers of deduction, but this was not something which she needed to worry about in the moment.

Emma had fallen in step with her, and Caroline turned to see the woman’s eyebrow slightly raised. “Is he right, and you like…. Cinderella’s granddaughter or something.”

Caroline bit her lip as she shook her head. “No, I’m not related to Cinderella.”

“But it is something like that, isn’t it?” Emma said gently.

“Yeah it is, and I’ve told you already I can’t tell you who I really am.”

Emma nodded as the castle rose up in to the distance. “I understand the whole need for secrets, but Henry on the other hand, has always been on to seek out the truth.”

_Then he will have to wait another three decades_ , Caroline thought to herself as they all stopped on the pathway looking at the castle.

Each of them saw something different as they looked at the castle bellow. To Snow White it was home, to Emma the home she never had and the birthright which had been taken away from her, to Caroline it was the seat of her sister’s throne, just another Castle which was part of her daily life and to Henry it was just another item which had leapt off from the page of a story book.

“It’s going to take us at least another hour to get down there.” Mary Margaret whispered as she looked at it, her breath catching in her throat as she looked at the place she had once imagined would be her home for the rest of her life.

Caroline snapped, and four horses appeared. “Sorry I didn’t think of that sooner.” She said as she mounted one swiftly.

The ride down through the hills was fast as the horses bound through the undergrowth of the forest. With the wind in their hair they raced towards the abandoned castle, which still seemed so flawless from afar. But as they slowed down onto the great stone bridge which led to the castle they could begin to see the cracked façade of what had once been such a magnificent palace.

“Who owns it in your time?” Emma asked as dismounted the horses and began along the long bridge which led to its gates on foot.

Caroline laughed as she looked at her feet, conscious not to trip on the vines and broken stones which littered the pathway which she knew would to be gleaming in her own time. “Just because I’m from the future doesn’t mean that I am going to tell you everything that will happen.” She replied cheekily and she watched Emma roll her eyes.

Mary Margaret was looking up at the Castle which was changed from the one she had known her whole life. For her it seemed as if no time at all had passed. All those lost years, twenty eight lost years had passed by in the blink of an eye as her body went unchanged. Twenty eight years in a Storybrooke which was frozen in time, those memories to her were all foggy and half-forgotten clashing the made up backstory of Mary Margaret Blanchard with Snow White so that some days she didn’t even know what was real and what was not.  Yet this castle had stood unoccupied for thirty five, the brick was beginning to crumble, the stones split beneath their feet. It had been neglected, and now it was finally able to be restored to its glory.

She pushed open the doors felling almost a sense of duty as the dust kicked up into her face to promise that one days its halls would sparkle once more. So much would need to be done, she realized as she looked around at the upturned tables and crooked picture frames. So much would need to be cleaned, so many people would need to be hired. And somehow as she looked around, she could picture herself here once again, after all these years, as if she was ready to come back to this life.

Emma had been here once before and seen it in ruins. It looked no different to her now than it had back then when she had roamed the halls with her father in search of the wardrobe. But as she looked at it now, as she saw the determination on her mother’s face she knew the decision she was making. The idea of being a princess had always been something which she kid herself about. It was something which she said in jest, said when it mattered to the people before her in order to establish her authority. But the idea of being a princess with a real honest to goodness Castle and never crossed her mind as a possibility before. The idea of ever finding a way back to the Enchanted Forest had been something which had been placed out of her mind as she had her own children to take care of. But Emma looked at her mother, and she knew that soon in the very near future, she would really be a princess because despite what she might wish her parents were going to move back into this monstrosity of a home one day.

“Last time I was here was the day you were born.” Mary Margaret whispered as she looked to her daughter, a tear in her eye caused by more than just the dust in the room as she picked up a small shard of glass which was resting on the floor and held it in her hands. It had been a vase once she remembered now as she looked at it.

“I know.” Emma replied as she looked around the looked around the abandoned castle.

“I don’t even want to think about that day.” She breathed as she looked at all this which had once been hers.

Emma could only nod, only half able to comprehend the sacrifice which her parents had made on that day years ago. She looked up at the halls, imagining all the king and Queens which had once held this castle, of all the ones before her parents and all the ones to come. She raised her hand, and with a small tiny wave she used her magic to clear away some of the debris. She turned and looked at Caroline who wordlessly agreed to do the same.

Caroline watched as the halls transformed into something she recognized. She looked at them and saw only memories of the place where she had run through as a child. On those stairs she had once argued with Addison, in that nook she had once laughed with Lucy. She remembered processionals through the halls, cloaks billowing out as knights and solders rode off to war, her among them. Just like her mother she had always been a different sort of princess, and she looked at the castle trying to imagine what it must look like in her own time. With Neal not wanting to, but sitting on the throne next to Olivia as they wondered when Addy could possibly be. If only they knew the truth.

Soon the castle was beginning to look like its former self, and wordlessly they began to move onwards into different parts of the castle. It was expansive and larger than any of them seemed to remember as the trio moved through the lower levels, cleaning up the throne room and they dining halls before moving up into the bedrooms.

The exact number of bedrooms was unknown to any of them, yet it seemed like quite possibly too many as they moved from one to another. They were dusty, covered with scattering creatures and moth eaten curtains which would need to be replaced rather than cleaned with magic. Mary Margaret pushed open the door to one of these bedrooms, and they were all started to look at a room which had appeared to be already clean and a large lump in the bed.

“Who’s been sleeping in my bed?” Mary Margaret said in a teasing voice as they each entered cautiously.

The figure stirred and they each stop their ground as they watched the woman rise from the blankets her dark hair askew.

She smiled as she saw Emma and Mary Margaret before her. “Love what you have done with the place.” Emma laughed. “It’s good to see you again Mulan.”

“And you too.” She replied, rubbing her eyes away with sleep. “You are here correct, I’m not dreaming am I?”

“We’re here.” Mary Margaret replied. “But why are you here?”

A sheepish look fell across her face as she stood and began to pull on clothes. “I was in the next Kingdom over, and then. There was a darkness I returned as fast as I could, but everyone was gone.”

“It was a spell.” Mary Margaret replied. “A second spell, to send us all back to Storybrooke. That was years ago, you’ve been here the whole time?”

Mulan nodded. “I was waiting to see if anyone would return. And now you have.”

“You should come with us.” Emma said “See more than what is beyond these walls.”

Mulan gave her the slightest of nods. “How did you get here?” She asked almost afraid of what the answer would be.

Emma smiled, pointing at Caroline who had gone unnoticed in the conversation so far. “Natalie here was able to open up the doorways between the worlds.”

“To just this place?” She said addressing her for the first time.

Caroline shook her head. “No many, many more, but you have to be in Storybrooke to get to them all.”

Mulan gave her a small smile. It had been years since she had been to her own realms and world’s again, and perhaps now she could. Or at least she could find a way to get there. “Then let’s go.” She said grabbing a packed bag and placing it over her shoulders.

They left the palace, knowing that some of them would return sooner than others and headed back up the hill to the doorway which stood eerily in the forest.

“Henry.” Emma said softly as she looked at her son sitting on his horse looking down at the castle from the ridge with a frown on his face.

He turned and looked at her sheepishly, seeing at the other women had already continued on up the path. “What if I don’t ever want to….” He paused but Emma knew exactly what he meant. What if he never wanted to be in charge of a castle and a kingdom, what if that was not the life which he was meant to live?

“Don’t worry.” She said as she pulled her horse alongside his. “We have a lot of time to figure that out. But for now.” She looked up the path at those who had already disappeared from view. “We have a more to worry about right now.”

The Storybrooke which they stepped back into was a frenzy of activity.

“Okay well, we can’t all just….” Regina was saying in a rushed voice as she looked at Will Scarlet. She stopped as the saw the door open as five people returned from the Enchanted Forest.

“If people want to go back home, then let them.” Emma replied reading the unspoken comment on her face.

“But half the population of the town can’t disappear overnight.” Regina said with a shake of her head.

Caroline looked at the people who were part of this world who were clamoring to know what was behind all those doors. She looked at Will Scarlet at the desperation on his face. “The door to Wonderland is on the second floor.” She said gently. “Not all the lands have doors to them, some of them don’t work that way, but most of these people, and if they want to they can leave.” She added to Regina.

“And what about things coming in, or coming back?” Regina said looked at her shaking her head, she was worried that if the floodgates opened once more to the world with magic. But Caroline looked at her, shaking her head. Such catastrophes had never happened, at least not in her lifetime. Yes there were still terrible things on either sides of the doors, but they all did their best to keep them continued.

“Don’t worry about that.” Caroline breathed as she looked towards the door to Arendelle she could go through but it wouldn’t be the same world as the one she knew. She turned away to leave, listening to the conversations as those who suddenly filled the halls of the house for doors as she walked, never feeling so alone in her entire life.

“Wait.” She turned to see Mulan, the woman looking at her with a strange smile as she pulled something out of her bag. “This is all because of you isn’t it?”

She nodded. “Yes, yes it is.” She said as she stepped into the cold autumn night. Darkness had fallen and she looked up at the stars. “But it’s not the door way I wanted.” She added under her breath. “I was trying to get back to somebody…”

“Sometimes the bridge can only be seen at the right time.” Mulan whispered as she looked up to the stars. “We have a story when I come from, of the weaver girl who fell in love with the cowherd.” She began as she pointed up to the skies, to the bright star known as Vega in the constellation which she had always known as a harp. “But they were separated by the great river, and only once a year could the ever be reunited when a bridge was formed.”

Caroline scoffed. “Well I hope that we can meet up more than once a year.” She muttered under her breath as she looked up at the star. “Why was she the weaver girl?” it seemed like such an unimportant and yet remembered part of the story.

“Because she is said to have woven the heavens themselves together.” Mulan replied. “And yet in the sky the Milky Way divides them.”

“Then she must not be too good at her job.” Caroline laughed. “I have to go, it was nice meeting you….” She paused realizing that she wasn’t supposed to know the others woman’s name without having have been introduced.

“Mulan.” She said reaching out hand.

“Natalie Smith.” She replied shaking it in turn. And she slipped way into the night, she star shining down bright upon her.

**

_The Enchanted Forest, 2043_

"Olivia Swan pack your bags you're going on a trip." Henry said as he walked into the room followed by his father. Olivia Swan, a dark skinned round faced queen who stood at an imposing height looked at them both with wide eyes. She was standing in the throne room pacing back and forth on the low dais which held two chairs upon it.

"I'm sorry, I'm going where?" she asked with a laugh as she looked at them lightly.

 The floors of the throne room were inlaid with intricate designs of swirling green wood and stone, the dozens of windows which flanked the room flooding them with light so that the ground seemed to be covered in sprawling vines. The chairs which were behind Olivia were simple yet old, she and Addison had not been the first people to sit in them and they would not be the last. Behind her on the wall was a stark banner of the serene white swan upon grey. The woman who had once grown up on an island in a far off sea did not seem so out of place here on land.

Henry looked at her with a smile. "Far and yet very close at the same time."

She shook her head as she stepped off the dais and walked towards them, her footsteps echoing off the empty walls as the fold of her dress moved nosily.  She still wore the simple flowing dresses of the warm islands from where she had been born, compensating only for the oncoming winter with heavy cloaks ad capes. Henry had always thought in his mind that she appeared to be most comparable to Cleopatra with a lion’s mane of hair and a heavy winter cloak covering her bare shoulders. Oliva wrapped her arms around Killian and then Henry.

"Authors." She hissed into his ear "Always making things complicated."

He laughed at her joke, but at the root of the matter things were in fact complicated. "It has to do with Addy." he replied

"I figured." Olivia replied. "So where am I going?"

"Storybrooke, twenty five years ago."

She looked at him with wide eyes, waiting for when he would confess that it was all a joke, but that moment never came. "How is that possible?"

He shrugged "I don’t know yet. We need to ask my mothers."

She gave him a curt nod, indicating they should follow her. Emma and Regina had already arrived, summoned at Henry’s request. They passed through several different corridors and rooms until they came to the small sitting room where Emma and Regina both turned to look at their son with concern.

"What's going on?" Regina barked as the door closed on the five of them.

But he didn’t reply. Killian turned and looked at his wife “Emma I need you to promise that you're not going to be mad at me…"?"

She raised her brows in disbelief. "Well when you start off a sentence like that what choice do I have?" she replied sarcastically.

"We know where the girls went…." he paused seeing the women in the room beam with excitement. “They’re in Storybrooke, twenty five years ago."

The silence was brief "Are you saying that your daughters went back in time twenty five years?" Regina replied incredulously.

She knew that he wouldn’t lie or joke about their family not when their daughters hadn’t been heard from in over a month. "The Smith sisters?” She whispered remembering the three women who came to the town and reopened the floodgates of magic and mayhem back to the town. Killian nodded. "How long have you known?"

He took a moment to look at her, to see the mixture of fear and surprise in her face knowing that the answer would be a disappointment to his wife.  "Since the day they left town." he replied softly

Her eyes widened. "Twenty five- no twenty six years and you didn’t say a single word!" She yelled at him

"They didn’t know Emma." he pleaded loudly “Those women who we meet twenty six years ago they didn’t know… its time travel Emma, it’s messier than curses and potions. You were there when they learned who they really were, you told me about the shock on their faces. I couldn’t say anything without jeopardizing those events. I learned who they really where and then they were gone."

They had taken no time to explain the rules if what he should do with that knowledge, nor had there been any instructions in the years to come. He had learned who they were, the roles they would play. The knowledge that they would not grow up to be villains was comforting, but it came at the price of his silence for a quarter century. Five years after they left, he learned that Rumpelstiltskin knew who his daughters would grow up to be as well. For a short time his former enemy became his confidant, reassuring him about the powers his children had. But even that only lasted for a short time

"I can't believe you didn’t tell me." she whispered scrupulously.

"I can't believe you didn’t put it together when Addison married a woman named Olivia." He deadpanned

She laughed "I assumed it was a fake name like theirs."

Killian turned and looked at Olivia, "So did I until she married her."

"You two want to let us in on the plan?" Regina snarled. She too was finding the truth difficult to swallow at even if it was not her own daughters involved. The implications about what those three sisters could now manage to do. She looked at Olivia, almost feeling sorry for the woman who had only known half of the truth when she married into this family.

"We have to send Olivia back in time." Henry replied.

Regina looked at her son with a small smile, knowing that he was right, she had met Olivia a quarter century ago. "And how do we do that?"

For a moment there was a sheepish expression on his face which he had often worn as a boy, it seemed strange of the face of a forty year old man. "I can’t use my powers as an author, believe me I tried; but I still have regular magic, and so do you too. I think if we just modified the spell I originally meant to use it will work."

Regina gave a nod. "They weren’t aiming for the portal in the House of Doors where they?"

He shook his head. "I was trying to end them to the edge of town, to the original barrier between the worlds. Can we send Olivia that way?"

She thought for a moment. That original way had been convoluted so many different times and by different spells, but she knew that somehow Olivia would have to end up in Storybrooke. "We have some time to find a way. Emma, let’s get to work looking for something.

"Aren't you going to tell me?" Olivia scoffed angrily as she looked at them. "I'm standing here in the dark. This is my wife, aren't you going to tell me what you know?" she added with a slightly commanding air.

Emma stepped forward and took her by the hands, looking up into her eyes. "I'm sorry but you have to stay in the dark about this. They are safe, and no harm will come to them. But this is _time_ that we are dealing with, it's beyond our right to mess with it. You'll see Addison again soon."

"Alright." Olivia nodded in agreement.

She turned and looked at her husband. "Killian I need you to go to Midas’s kingdom and get something.”

"Um…" He stumbled “If you're staying here shouldn’t I go to Arendelle?" she looked at him biting her lip knowing that he was right, they had promised Caroline to look after their grandchild while she was fighting.

 Olivia looked between the pair not knowing what was unsaid. “I can go.” she replied lightly. They looked at her with surprise. “What do you need me to get?"

"The old king’s gauntlet."  Emma replied.

Olivia looked at her somewhat baffled but nodded. "What do you need that for?" Henry scoffed.

"And you’re writing a note to your sisters." She replied pointing at her as she moved to leave with Regina

"What should I say," Henry called out after her, his voice echoing off the corridor. “I’m sorry in every language I know?"

She turned giving him a twinkling smile and whistled a familiar three-note motif. He chuckled to himself as he understood the meaning, then he and left as well.


	12. Allotment

_Arendelle, Two years before traveling back in time_

Caroline awoke turning over and seeing the gleam off the suit of armor in the early morning light. There had never been a time in her life which she had never considered not putting it on in the morning but now that day had come. She was past the twelve week mark she could only make it fit with the assistance of her magic. She looked with sadness as she realized it would likely be a year before she ever wore it again.

She had also never in her life never considered the possibility of becoming a mother. Now that life decision was also staring her starkly in the face. Maybe when the wars were all over, she had once told herself after she had been married in secret, maybe then she would consider the possibility of children. But even in that hypothetical situation she still was reluctant to give up her helm as a knight.

The occupation had kept her grounded in the decade before. It had given her a needed outlet, it had focused her energy and she knew that it had been important in keeping her focused. And now she wouldn’t have that any more. She would just have a cottage by the lake, and whatever fake face she choose for herself and Finn.

Finn moved beside her. He had never in his life lived outside of the shadow of the palace, but Caroline knew that if they were going to be smart about this situation they needed to truly go in to hiding. They had chosen a village high off in the mountains where Finn’s skills as a blacksmith were greatly appreciated. If they were going to hide it would be on their own terms, and in somewhere where they could still roam freely of their own accord.

“Caroline Edstrom.” He whispered in her ear as he stirred awake. He hardly ever called her that, she had never formally taken his last name and she didn’t know if she ever would.

She stood with great will, pulling the heavy and warm covers off of her with regret as she looked around the room and began to dress. “I have to go and tell them today.” She said flatly.

She caught his face, the gentle sadness and sympathy. He had known her since they were both little children. They had met during the summer she had spent with Elsa, both apprentices in the castle in different manners. He had known her during her darkest and most out of control moments and he understood how hard this all was for her. But despite his suggestions that they did not need to do this now, Caroline had been instant on having this child. He knew why, even if she didn’t say it aloud. She was worried that this might be her only chance at having children, that by the extra the war was over she would be another Knight who was a casually of the fighting.

“Do you want me to go with you?” He muttered gently.

She shook her head “No.” She replied as she pulled her red and gold cloak of Camelot over her lose dress. “I have to do this alone. I’ll be back soon.” She replied, kissing him gently.

She had known him since she was fourteen years old, but she had never assumed that she would be capable of loving someone as much as she was Finn. He treated her with a gentle kindness which little afforded her. He saw her not only as a knight and a princess but a person as well, who had dreams beyond what was expected of her. And she saw him for more than a smith as well. She saw him as a talented craftsman, as someone who could fight when it was needed of him, but who would rather negotiate peace. He let her lead the relationship, to take charge because that was her personality. And she loved him because of it.

Caroline left the small cottage, wrapping herself up in the warm cloak protecting herself against winter as she closed her eyes and disappeared. She had found little limits to her magical abilities in all her years, appearing and disappearing at will were not among them. The white stone hallways of Camelot were not foreign to her as she passed by the guards whom she all knew by name and into the grand hall.

The large round wooden table no longer seemed imposing to her. She had sat at if for over a decade but it still seemed just as regal as ever as those sitting at it looked up at her as she entered. Henry gave her a slight nod but she did not take her seat as usual.

“My lord.” She said formally looking at the King before her. He seldom wore a crown, something which Caroline had noticed pointedly in all the years that she knew him.

Arthur looked up at her with a small smile. “Yes Caroline.” He replied lightly.

“May I speak to you in private?”

There were only six other people other than Henry and Arthur at the table. Gwen, two other knights, and three squires. Arthur nodded, seeing no problem in her request and stood leading her into a small antechamber.

“What do you need Caroline?” He said as he closed the door behind them.

She wondered sometime if when he looked at her, he saw the impish little girl he had first meet all those years ago. She couldn’t lie, sometimes when she looked at him she was reminded of the rowdy college student she had meet two decades earlier. She unbuttoned her crimson cloak handing it to him.

“I’m afraid I can no longer be a knight in your service.”

He laughed, pushing the cloak away. “And why is that?”

“I’m pregnant.”

His face fell into a strange grimace “So?”

“I can’t even fit into my armor let alone go off into battle in this state.” She balked at him.

He chuckled. “They make armor for potbellied old men, why not for you then?”

“Arthur it’s not the same-“

“It was a joke Caroline.” He replied firmly. “I would never ask you to endanger your child like that. Take some time off, how much do you need? A year, two? I don’t want to lose you Caroline, you are a valued Knight and as skilled sorcerer.”

She looked up at him, she hadn’t been expecting this sort of behavior, this kindness from him. “A year, roughly a year.” She muttered. “You really would do that for me?”

“Of course.” He said with a smile. “I’ve watched you grow up, you’re like a sister to me Caroline.”

She could feel her face flushing from embarrassment. “Henry doesn’t know, none of my siblings do. Please don’t tell them. I don’t want the knowledgeable of my family to be used against us.”

He nodded, understanding. “Who’s the father, if it might ask?”

“My husband, Finn Edstrom he’s-.”

He laughed. He like so many other people had not even known that she was married. “One of the finest sword makers in all of Arendelle.” He laughed. “Is that why you always seem to have the best weapons?”

Caroline gave a small nod. “Perhaps.” She giggled.

“And you staying there, in Arendelle.”

She nodded once more. “You won’t be able to find us.”

“No I don’t expect as much. I will tell everyone that I sent you on a quest, for some unachievable grail of some sort. Come back when you are ready, you know where we are.”

“Thank you.” Caroline whispered, grateful for his understanding and kindness. He had unknowingly made this whole situation better than what she had been expecting.

“You’re served by my side for over a decade Caroline it’s the least I can do…. And, congratulations.”

~~~

_Storybrooke, 2017_

Addison giggled as she knocked on her older sister’s bedroom door. “Do you want to build a snowman?” She sang out in a soft voice as she leaned against the wall.

“It doesn’t have to be a snowman.” Lucy added as they looked at one another laughing.

Inside the room Caroline rolled out of bed, rolling her eyes as she stood up and walked to the bedroom door, tearing it open so quickly that both women jumped backwards. “It’s September, it’s not even snowing.” She said, her voice conveying just how annoyed she was that they had woken her.

A wide grin fell across Lucy round face. “Look outside.” She breathed.

Caroline ran to the window to look at the lush snow which had blanketed the ground bellow and was still falling gently to the ground. She felt a childlike rush of adrenaline coming over her as she turned back and ran to her bedroom, changing quickly into wintery clothes. She loved the snow, she always had.

“I guess it’s a good thing you married a man from Arendelle then.” She heard Addison remark snidely as she returned into the living room. Caroline said nothing in reply, she had silently confirmed their assumptions but she would never speak them aloud, not until Mordred’s body was cold and the lands pledged to Camelot had been united in free statehood.

Lucy came into the room, a patchwork woolen hat upon her head a deep green princess cut coat twirling in her wake. “Come on let’s go and play. I never see you anymore, come out the door, it’s like you’ve gone away!” She continued singing as she twirled while placing on her mittens. She looked up at them with a wide smile, like that a child looking to please an adult after doing something naughty would have. She turned and looked at Caroline, a laugh escaping from her lips even though she tried to contain it.

Addison rolled her eyes as she headed towards the door. “We all know that song by heart, and she will continue.” She muttered as she held open the door.

Lucy snickered. “Yes well, not all of us had our favorite Disney movie forever banned from the house when we were six.” She said as she stepped onto the landing.

“And then to add insult to injury she made us act it out it the backyard.” Caroline replied

Lucy nodded, remembering those summers which had been spent arguing. “Until we were finally given a firm telling off from multiple characters of the original tale.”

“Mmmm.” Caroline agreed as she shut the door behind them and linked arms with Lucy, “But she still kept the book hidden under her mattress.” She added before beginning to sing softly to herself as they marched down the stairs. “Following the leader, the leader, the leader, we’re following the leader wherever she may go.”

“Tee dum, Tee dee, a tee de lee dum tee day.” Lucy added in loudly as they continued singing loudly until Addison turned around her phone in her hands. “What are you doing?” Lucy shouted as they reached the bottom of the stairs and tumbled outside into the snow.

“Blackmail.” Addison replied as she finished recording the video. “I don’t make fun of you miss, Lion King?”

“What’s wrong with the Lion King?” Lucy replied.

“As far as I know, it’s the only animated movie in which siblings kill each other.”

Caroline laughed, but she paid them little attention as she began to pile the snow into small mounds a Serenity falling across her face. “Yes, well.” Lucy began. “I’m just going to let the two of you go at it, and then pull a Scar and let the remaining one be trampled by wildebeest.”

Caroline snorted. “Yeah but either way one of ours sons will kill you in the end, and we get to become the great Darth Vader in the sky.” She was slowly beginning to build a snowman, and none of them seemed to say anything as they silently helped her.

It the end their hands were soaked though and felt half frozen as they looked at the tall mound of snow which had been invented to be a snowman. “It’s like an expressionist snowman.” Lucy said as they looked at it.

Addison snickered. “Alright, we get it you’re the scholar of the family.”

She huffed. “You two can be so mean.” She replied, but even though she acted hurt they knew that she wasn’t, not really.

“You know if it could.” Caroline waved her hands around to indicate using her magic. “I could make a better snowman.”

“Eh.” Addison replied as she formed a snowball and threw it at Caroline. Caroline looked surprised for only a singular moment before she bent down at picked up a handful of snow herself and lobbed it at her sister. “See you can’t both win, not without magic.” Addison called out as she began running through the snow with difficulty.

Their entire lives she had been the victims of her siblings snow ball fights, even when it was just her and Lucy left, and Addison always seemed to still loose. Back when they were little, in the confines of their own backyard the two sisters had always used magic, even though they didn’t know it when they were very little. Somehow every badly thrown ball managed to find its mark even as she found the most creative hiding spots.

Yet now she ran around the small grassy area outside of the apartment building, laughing as she dogged the balls of snow. Finally after their cheeks had all turned red they had given up and walked arm and arm back into the building. They sat down grateful for heating vents as they peeled off wet woolen hats and gloves and placed them on the radiator.

“Oh I am frozen.” Lucy whispered as she sat down on the sofa and pulled a blanket closer towards herself.

Addison turned to look at her older sister with a raised brow, “Is your fascination with that story the fact that the parents are both dead? Because if that's the case, I mean it's realistic that our parents could have possibly died in some tragic boating accident, but really kind of mean.”

Caroline rolled her eyes. “Oh my God mom it’s a plot device. Name me one Disney movie in which the parents are alive?”

“Mulan.”

“Toy Story.”

“Both parents.” Caroline added.

“Both parents could have been alive in Toy Story, they could have been divorced and we just never saw the father?” Lucy replied

Caroline rolled her eyes. “One that’s non ambiguous.”

Both women sat there with their mouths open, each time they went to speak closing them again as they realized against it. “Okay so you made your point.” Caroline replied. “But why I liked that story probably has more to do with the fact that it was really overexposed when I was a child.”

Addison and Lucy shared a collective glance both nodding to one another as they sprigged into action with the next part of their plan. Addison jumped up to set the kettle on while Lucy pulled out her phone and turned on the TV.

“Pick a season?” Lucy said briskly.

Caroline looked at what was up on the Netflix cue. “Gilmore Girls?” She snickered.

“You’ve had a shitty couple of days.” Lucy said with a head bob as she scrolled through the episode list. “This is what we do when we’ve had some shitty days.”

Caroline laughed. “Season five, I want Luke and Lorelai together, no wait I don’t want to deal with Rory in college. Season two.”

Lucy pressed away as Addison came back with three mugs of hot chocolate, each taken in their own individual way. Caroline preferred so much powder that there were chunks, Addison liked marshmallows and Lucy’s with a dash of coffee in it.

Addison sighed as she pulled a blanket over her as the television program began. “Remember Lucy’s first Christmas home from college, when we all six of us sat down and watched the entire over the course of a week and a half.”

“Well I went to Yale for undergrad I had to point out the inaccuracies.”

Caroline laughed. “I’m really partial to how Dad just referred to them as Luke and Lorelai’s by the end.”

They paused for a moment in their commentary to all sing along loudly and not always correctly to the theme song. Then they settled down into their blankets at the snow continued to fall outside.

“Why is this so appealing, when it is so unrealistic?” Addison muttered after nearly half an hour.

“It’s ‘cause it’s what you want your relationship with your mom to be like.” Caroline murmured. “When you’re a teenager you want the relationship that Lorelai and Rory have, but in reality it’s more like the relationship with Lorelai and her mom. But then as you get older, you do finally get that Lorelai and Rory thing, some days at least.”

Lucy laughed. “At least none of us were Lane Kim’s.”

“Yeah.” Caroline replied. The next episode began automatically as she through to the world she had left behind. She as a mother, she missed her husband and her son terribly and she was beginning to worry that she would never get to see them again. But at least she wasn’t alone, even if it felt this way. She still had her sisters who would be by her side. This hadn’t been the first time they had cheered her up in any manner, and it would likely not be the last. She looked outside at the snow, and then at Lucy.

“Luce, tell me you didn’t make it snow?”

Lucy laughed. “No, I didn’t make it snow.” She said flatly. “Even I don’t have control of the weather, at least I don’t think. I’d try if you asked.” She added

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She added as she hugged her sister.

**

He had always felt drawn to the house ever since he had discovered it years ago. He had driven past the mansion, tempted by its mysteries but never stepping inside of it. Now it had been transformed into something more magical than he could imagine as Rumpelstiltskin walked through the hallways looking at the doors which marked the entrances to different lands.

It seemed reckless in his mind.

If the town of Storybrooke was now welcome to the outside world, if it remained a pocket of magic in a land without it, it seemed careless to create dozens of doorways to other realms. But they hadn’t asked his opinion about the manner.

Henry, hadn’t asked.

Henry and one of the new witches were the ones who had created this monument of gateways on a whim. His grandson’s actions worried him as he feared that without guidance he could slip into a cycle of abusing his powers as an author. But Henry had no desire for the former Dark One to be his mentor, he had made that clear.

He walked down the halls, feeling the warm comfort of magic as he passed by the doorways marked with words overhead to the lands they led to. He had missed the feeling of power which magic had given him. He still had a sharp mind, he still had his clever little plans and thoughts but without magic to see them through his dreams turned into specks of sand lost on an endless beach.

Yet even just walking though these halls was intoxicating enough.

He had never considered consolidating the portals to other worlds into one singular location, a House of Doors as the Smith girl had called it. This house that had once seemed haunted now was blooming with possibilities. He knew all these places, he had been to them once, a long time ago when he was a different man.

He really was a different man now, regardless of how hard that seemed for some people to be able to see. He understood their fears and trepidation. He had been a hardened man, a man who thought only for himself. But when that had all been taken from him, he was forced to look back at the person he was. He hadn’t liked what he had seen. He didn’t appreciate that to him compliments were considered to be nasty words and vile statements of character. He didn’t like the fact that the only people he seemed to love had either walked away or chosen to abandon him, he didn’t like the fact that there was no one left in the world who trusted him, not even himself.

So he began the long process of changing the ways and habits which he had fallen into after a hundred or more years. It was difficult to do, hard to resist old habits at first, but in time it became easier as he was able to make that transformation away from those who knew who he had once been.

Years had passed, and now he was back. The reunion had been chillier that he had expected. It was the words of Henry which had surprised him the most. He had not expected the boy to look upon him so vengefully. That a boy once capable of so much trust and belief could also hate so much.   But there had been a truth in his words, a truth with Gold was incapable of showing to him that he had become someone different.

He had returned because he had hoped to have some sort of relationship with his grandson, but now the boy only looked at him with shady eyes. Perhaps it was a phase, he had looked at his own father with such malice when he was young too, and no doubt his own son would have as well if he had been there during that part of his life.

Still he walked through the hallways looking at the doorways, knowing that Henry was two steps behind him watching his every move. “Have you been to all of them?” The teenager asked in a dark voice.

He turned and gave him half a smile. “Yes. Or at least I believe I have.” He said as he looked at them. Some of them he had spent more time in that others. Some world’s had been troubled enough without his added presence in them.

“Are you going to go back?”

He had been wondering the same thing himself ever since he had heard about the doorways. He would like to meet the woman who had created this all and ask her a hundred questions. Somehow he felt that going back to a world where magic was in the air but he no longer possessed that power, would be more painful that staying in Storybrooke. “Do you want me to go back?”

Henry seemed taken by his bluntness. He chewed on an answer silently as they passed by the doorways on the upper level of the house. Henry did not know what his answer was to that question. The truth of the matter was that for the past three and some odd years he had barely even thought about Rumpelstiltskin. Sometimes the man haunted him in his dreams, but that was all. He had other things to worry about, younger siblings who took up all his attention, school work and friends. His teenage years had not been troubled with the thoughts of his estranged Grandfather but when he had seen him again all that anger which had been forgotten had risen to the surface.

He wished that he could walk away. That he would never have to deal with the man before him. That he could simply never see him and that his anger could harden over time into something which he just ignored. But Henry knew that was not a possibility and that doing so would only make him the coward which he had promised himself that he would not become. He would need to reconcile with the man, while there was still some possibility of that hope in his own mind.

“I don’t want you to go back it you don’t want to.” Henry finally said.

Rumpelstiltskin turned and gave him an honest smile. “Thank you for that Henry.” He replied as he looked at the doorway in front of him. It took him a while to recognize the symbols on it and what it contained. It had been one of those lands which had been faced with enough darkness in it already that the Dark One, had often skipped over venturing into it as well. But he knew there were people and creatures there who could help him understand the new magic of the Smith sisters. “Would you like to go?” He asked pointing to the door.

Intrigue flashed upon his face. “Where does it lead to?” Henry asked.

“The lands of Prydain.” He replied

“Have you been there before?”

A smile came across his face after he remembered the horned dark lord who he had once considered to be his friend of sorts. “Yes. I have.”

“Good” Henry said as he stepped towards the door. “That way we won’t get too lost.” He placed his handle of the door with a red dragon on it and opened it.

The forest beyond was filled with ash grey trees and tall over grown grasses. It was a bit disconcerting to see a forest over the threshold of a door way in a mansion, but Henry assumed that he would have to become used to the image in the future. He took a step forward and into the forests of Prydain.

Even the air was different as he heard the door close behind him. He looked at the doorway which was standing in the middle of the forest. There were words written in a language which he did not understand underneath the carved image of a lighthouse painted with bold red and white stripes. There was no lighthouse in Storybrooke, at least not yet.

“Come on.” Henry turned around on the spot feeling somewhat lost in the new land as he followed after Rumpelstiltskin who was already making his way down a pathway which Henry had not seen in the overgrowth of the forest.

He ran after him, “So have you been here before?” He forgot that he had already asked that question as he fell side by side with him, but choose rather to look at the world all around him than at Rumpelstiltskin.

“Yes I used to know Arawn, the horned king.”

“Where not here to meet this-and I only am assuming he is evil because of the name- Horned King are we?” He said in a skeptical voice which sounded remarkably like Emma’s.

Rumpelstiltskin laughed. “No, he was defeated a while ago.”

Henry sighed with relief. “Sorry for your loss.” He said in an honest voice.

He thought that was strange, Henry feeling sorry for him because a once evil associate of his had killed. He assumed that most of his former evil associates were either dead, imprisoned on in the rare case of a handful had chosen a different career path as they had reformed themselves. But Henry was the type of a kind boy who would say such a thing. He knew that kindness was an important trait to have, but that being too kind course also get the boy into all sorts of different trouble.

He would have said something but a small ball of light which bounced up and down in midair stopping them from going any further down the path.

“Now really Eilonwy-” Rumpelstiltskin began with a smile. “There is no need of this.”

A girl stepped out from the bushes. She wore a long medieval like gown, finely made but its hem was covered in dirt in mud and her yellow hair was coming out of its braid. Clearly she was the sort of woman from a finer family who cared more about adventures than etiquette.

“Just because you know my name doesn’t mean that I have to trust you.” She said briskly as her golden babble floated around Henry almost as if it was x-raying him. It came back to her, sitting on her shoulder as if whispering into her ear. “Who are you?”

“My name is Henry and this is my grandfather”

“And I assume that you came through that new door way which appeared a few weeks ago?” She asked still looking at them unsure

“Yes we did” Henry whispered.

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Rumpelstiltskin almost as if she recognized him. “You’re here to see _her_ aren't you?”

Henry looked at him and apprehension unaware of the answer to who the in question was.  “Yes we are. Would that be alright?” Rumpelstiltskin replied slowly.

She crossed her arms looking them up and down “I think so, but then again it’s not up to me.” Eilonwy huffed. She turned leading them down the rest of the path in silence.

“Who are we going to meet?” Henry whispered as they continued, the small ball of light still hovering over them. It was surprisingly how well a ball of light could convey its suspicions.

“You’ll soon see.” He replied as they sloped down into a valley a small farm coming into view. The animals seemed to pay them little attention as they came into view, their heads looking up with a furtive glance at those who were new, but they returning to their eating. But one gestured at them it was small and covered with fur like a dog yet with almost human like proportions as it looking up at them and began to speak.

“Guri doesn’t not know about these new people, Princess Eilonwy.” The creature Henry could only assume was named Guri spoke as it fell into step with her. Henry too felt a mutual suspicion of the talking animal as he looked at the strange princess before him.

She rolled her eyes at him. “They’re alright Guri.” She replied brushing it off. “They’re from the other side of the door that’s all.” She added. Henry thought back to the doorway, there was an easy way now to get back to his mother’s hands as well. He wondered if that made him a prince, he would have to ask when he got back, though he assumed any such question would be met with laughter from either of his mothers.

“Taran.” She called out loudly. “Taran you have visitors.”

A young man not much older than Henry with floppy red hair stuck his head out from around one of the barn doors. “Eilonwy.” He said in an excited voice as he rushed out to greet her. He hugged her tightly, giving her a soft kiss on the lips as well as he pulled back. He looked at Henry with a warm smile, but his face fell as he looked at Rumpelstiltskin.

“You’re seen me before haven’t you.” Rumpelstiltskin said almost heart broken.

Taran nodded. “In Hen Wen’s scrying. But you often looked… a bit different.” He whispered.

“I’m not the man I once was.” Rumpelstiltskin began.

“I know.” Taran said with a brisk nod. “I just didn’t think I would ever meet you. But its Hen Wen you are after isn’t it? Let me go get her.”

At this point Henry was expecting Taran to bring about some old woman who would sit over a scrying basing. He was surprised when Taran came back with a small pig.

It was a nice pig, small and spotless with the softness looking light pink skin Henry had ever seen, but it was still a pig nonetheless. “Why would you call a pig a hen?” Henry blurted out as he looked at the small spotless creature who was looking up at him with what could almost be called a smile.

Taran laughed. “I didn’t name her.” He said as Eilonwy produce a small shallow bowl filled with water and placed it in front of the pig. “Go ahead….ask away.” He said with a small gesture.

Henry looked to his grandfather who seemed almost hesitant. “She shows you the future.”

“What if I don’t want to see the future?” Henry asked with an arrogant smile.

He watched as Rumpelstiltskin laughed. “I’ve never met anyone content enough with their lives that they did not wonder about the future Henry, not even you.”

He was tempted to remark back that perhaps in his former line of work content people were often not his clientele, but he thought against it. Henry got down into the dirt next to the pig who was already serenely graphing onto the edge of the basin.

He looked up at Taran and Eilonwy, unsure of what to do next. “Head in the water.” Taran replied kindly, as the keeper of Hen Way he often had to instruct those on how to use her abilities to their needs.

Henry bent down, expecting to feel the cool sensation of water coming over him but he did not. He had closed his eyes out of fear of what to expect but he opened them to find himself standing in a vast Hall of a castle. The walls where made of red and white stones, large windows showing a lush forest beyond them which looked more Mediterranean than the forests he had seen in his stories. The trees were like giant green brushes between the seas of yellow grass which appeared nearly dead like in appearance.

He didn’t recognize this castle from any of the story books which he had ever read and yet he noticed the familiar décor. The table before him was large and round, not unlike the one he had seen in the imagines of his grandparent’s castle. But this one was different, all around it were names written in scrolling letters designations who sat where. He walked around, looking at the names, titles, mononyms which decorated the table. _The Red Rider, The Queen of the Highlands, Sir Grant The Knight of Dorn, The Black and White Knight,_ _Queen of the Seas, The Green Maiden, Emma Swan, Killian Jones._

He set off at a run, skimming the names around the edge of the table looking for any more which seemed familiar, _Regina, Robin Hood, Roland, Alice, Mulan._ But he had yet to see his own name.   _Sir_ _Percy, Mer-_

The door opened and Henry watched as woman came running into the room laughing. She looked remarkably like Emma with her long blonde hair trailing down her back and a crooked smile on her face as she looked at the round table before her, unable to see that Henry was there as well. But it wasn’t his mother, Caroline in a few years perhaps or-

“Grace!” A male voice called out she turned, laughing as she looked at him.

“Oh come on Neal. It’s not like we can’t be in here.” She said as she walked towards the table.

Neal. Henry looked at him, realizing it had to be his uncle. He looked like David, his face young and handsome though there was a long scar down his cheek. Both of them were wearing clothes that showed they were clearly in a different realm. Light embroidered silks which moved in the breeze like water, not at all like the furs of the Enchanted Forest which he had seen in illustrations; but they still did not give Henry any clue to where they might be.

“I know that.” He said as he came to stand beside her. They both stood on one side of the table with Henry at the other. The table between them was massive and yet he could still easily hear their voices. “We are supposed to be attending the celebrations.”

“Humph.” She snorted as her hand traced across a name on the table. She lifted it up looking at the thick layer of dust which had clung to her finger before bellowing it into the air. Neal coughed as he took a step back. “My name is never going to appear.” She whispered as she laid her hand back down on the table.

“Grace…. You don’t know that for certain.” Neal said softly.

She looked at him with a smirk of disbelief. “It’s been five years Neal. There are empty seats at this table left behind those who died in the final battles. If my name hasn’t appeared than it never will.”

He leaned into her. “If it makes you feel any better names not here either.” He added.

She pushed him away. “That’s because you don’t live here silly.”

“Neither does the Green Maiden, or the Controller, or Bastian Grote, or….” Henry walked away as watched Neal continued on naming all those who had places around this table but did not live in this realm. It was possible that perhaps they came and visited when needed, but Henry had seen the layer of dust which Grace had pulled off. There hadn’t been a meeting at this round table for likely five years, this was a land in peace.

This was the future, his future thirty or so years to come judging by how old Neal was and yet he did not know why this was what Hen Wen had chosen to show him, or perhaps the pig had no control over what he saw. He walked through the hall, getting the strong sense as he tried one or two of the doors that we would be unable to leave the room. He hadn’t asked how to get out either, that had been a foolish mistake Henry reasoned as he continued around the room, looking at the tapestries for any kind of clues other than Neal and Grace. He would glance back at them from time to time standing at the roundtable as he turned out their voices. He got the strong impression that Grace was Neal’s sister, but he couldn’t very well ask.

He heard the sound of metal clinking, and his head turned around to see one of the suits of armor around the room moving slightly. Henry walked towards it, seeing the arms of the armor flicker in the warm light as he approached. It was a strange suit of armor, not at all made out of shining silver like the ones he had seem medieval nights wear, but made more of leather and plate of black material.

Henry crouched down looking at the small face of a little boy hiding behind the suit. He was wearing the same sorts of loose silks which Neal and Grace had and yet his were a different color, an ice blue which matched the color of his eyes. He looked towards Henry, their eyes meeting as an impish grin fell across his face.

“Can you see me?” Henry whispered. He watched in shock as the little boy gave the smallest of nods.

“Now that’s where you ran off too.” Came a familiar and yet grating voice. The little boy stood up, running through where Henry was standing as passing though him as if he was a ghost into the arms of the man who had appeared out of nowhere behind Henry. “Your mother is going to have half the castle looking for you if you were gone any longer.” He said as he picked the boy who had to be nearly six yet was still fairly small up in his arms.

Henry turned around to look at the man, expecting to see someone who had the same reddish hair as the young boy. His eyes were perfectly level to the man before him, their shoulders the same width they stood at the exact same height. It was him, over thirty years older with specks of grey running through his hair as he held the little boy in his arms.

“But I found you Uncle Henry.” The little boy said as the older Henry carried him away from the suit of armor. _Uncle Henry._ Than this had to be one of his sisters children, was this one of their castles? Would Caroline or Addison one day be in possession of such a round table in a strange Mediterranean realm, this was the future, the irrefutable future.

“Oh and I can’t believe you did.” The older Henry was saying to the little boy with a mock surprise.

“You were invisible, and I saw you.”

“Well a good wizard can make himself invisible just like that.” He said snapping his fingers and disappearing completely for a moment, leaving his nephew suspended in midair before he materialized again. The little boy was laughing so hard it seemed as if he was going to cry at any moment, as his whole body shook against that of the older Henry’s.

Henry the teenager felt his whole body go numb as if he was being pulled in two different directions. This had to be a dream, a trick which Rumpelstiltskin was playing on him. There was no way this could be true. This land did not exist, he did not have magic like that, he was just an author. It was all a trick something to get something out of him. And yet he was still here, still watching the scene unfold out in front of him

“Can you read all the names yet?” The older Henry asked as they approached the round table.

The boy looked up at him. “Sort of.”

He placed the boy down. “Can you find your mother’s name?”

“Remember it doesn’t say Caroline.” Grace added as the little boy set off at a run.

_Caroline._ Henry thought to himself as he watched the boy move around the table. He seemed nothing like Caroline. He couldn’t even imagine seeing Caroline have a child of her own. Granted the version of Caroline who he knew was even younger than this son who he was seeming but still.

“Is it this one Henry?” He said as he pointed to one of the titles rather than names which was scaled out on the table.

The older Henry looked at it, as the younger one moved as well to see what it said. “ _The Queen of the Seas_.” Both Henrys spoke. “No that’s not her. You’re not reading are you trying to remember the spot.”

The boy gave him a smirk which told Henry he was right, the boy was remembering where Caroline’s spot at the table was.

He pointed, and Henry gave a nod but Henry didn’t get a chance to look at what was written next to the Queen of the Seas place as his head his nephew call out. “Where are you Uncle Henry?”

“Up near the top, in his seat of honor of course.” Neal laughed as he looked at the little boy run around the table to find the golden chair. Henry felt a sharp tug on the back of his neck as his head was pulled from the water.

“It was just getting good.” He called out scandalized as he looked at the farm before him. His spot had been at one of those gilded and golden chairs, he wanted to know why, wanted to know how he ever came to have magic in the first place.

Taran laughed at him. “That’s what they always say.” He replied with a slick smile, but Henry turned and looked at his grandfather who was looking at him with hope in his yes.

“What did you see?”

“I don’t even…” he paused looking at Taran and Eilonwy this was there world they would know all the rules. “Is it real… what I saw, is that what is really going to happen?”

Eilonwy nodded. “Yes it is. In a way, it doesn’t have to be though. The future is still fluid, what Hen Wen sees is what will probably happen but things could change.”

“Henry what did you…?”

“I saw Neal. My uncle Neal, not my father.” He added as a faint glimmer of hope ran across his grandfather’s face. “He was older, grown up and we were in a castle. I had never seen it before, this Mediterranean castle with a great round table. Neal was there, someone… Grace, his sister I think she was there, Caroline’s son was there and…. I was there. I was old…. And….. I had magic. More than just…. More than an author should have.” He paused looking into Rumpelstiltskin’s face. There was almost a hint of acceptance in the man’s expression.  “I watched my self-disappear in thin air. How is that possible?”

“You can be born with magic or you can acquire it.” His grandfather began. “At least in our realm.” He added as he looked at the others.

“Then how did I acquire that much magic?” He asked plainly. Obviously concerned that in the future he would possibly be in the control of some dark magic. The context clues of what he had seen had lead him to believe that in the future he would be a hero of some sort, but he knew that even villains could be very good at pretending to be a hero when they needed to. If Regina or Emma has been there they could have given him the correct answer. But Rumpelstiltskin had been too occupied with the loss of his magic when the dagger of the dark one had been destroyed to see Henry’s magic then.

“Can I look again?” He asked, looking at Taran hopefully.

The man shook his head. “You can try, but she won’t show you. She seems to have a rather strict policy on repeats.”

“I’ll do it.” Rumpelstiltskin began as he bent down on his knees in front of the basin.

“But you were going to ask about the Smith sisters.” Henry began as he watched the edges of his grandfather’s hair swaying inches away from the water. “You should do that, I can come back another day.”

“It’s alright Henry.” He replied kindly. “Tell me about the castle, so I get the right one.”

“It’s surrounded by a forest of green trees in a sea of yellow grass and the table it has names all around the edges names of the people who sit there. Caroline but it didn’t say Caroline on the table apparently, all my parents, The Red Rider, The Controller, The Queen of the Seas…. And my name. My name was there, by the high chair but I didn’t get to see it, you pulled me out before I got to see it.”

Rumpelstiltskin gave a small nod and then he was gone into the water.

He was in a room, but he was unsure if it was the same one which Henry had described to him still he looked around, it was full of people standing at attention waiting. The windows had all been covered shut, flames were lit around the room but they were small and away from the windows. Bells chimed out in the distance as people came and went through the great hall. It was a city under siege, easy to tell from what he saw before him.

“We have to go Belle.” He had never turned around so quickly in his entire life as he watched the young woman tug on the sleeve of his wife’s jacket.

She looked as if she was content with the world around her, as if she had accepted what was going to happen. The ship was sinking and she intended to go down with it. The young woman clearly had the intention of dragging her to safety but if this hall were to burn to the ground Belle had every objective of going with the white and red stone.

“Not yet.” She said in a hollow voice as she looked distantly at the great door on the other side of the door.

He wanted to get closer to her, but between them was the table which Henry had described. He walked around it, some people were sitting at the table polishing shields and sharpening swords, few were even sleeping upon its table top. It seemed so larger than it seemed to engulf the room, yet as he stood next to it, seeing the names written in gold around it didn’t seem as large.

He looked at the names some which he recognized others which he didn’t. It seemed from first impressions that it was up to the person who sat in the chair to be in care of their name. Somewhere well polish and repainted, Regina’s was immaculate, Killian had let his letters begin to fade, the black and white knight had clearly chipped away at her spot with a knife, others held imprints of where fingers had rubbed away at knots and indents from rings hitting the table. It wasn’t just a name it was a statement of character as well. It brought to mind an image to go along with the name, some more colorful than others as he walked around to the high chair of honor

He walked around towards the golden chair, the only difference marking when the King sat apart from everyone else. He was looking for Henry’s name but he saw nothing, perhaps this was the wrong, perhaps the pig had not shown him what he needed to see. He looked at the two names on either side of the King Arthur’s chair, Guinevere and Merlin. He watched as the heavy doors flew open with a bang.

“Look I don’t care what you think she is my family and I am going to deal with her myself.” Said the golden haired man in the armor who was walking side by side with an older version of Henry.  Behind them was a scattering of knights and guards and himself. Old, his hair nearly all white, Rumpelstiltskin looked at the future version of himself who was following behind the two young men. He seemed perhaps a little more stooped over, as if age had finally caught up with him. But he was clearly still trying to be part of the action as he moved about through the thick of it.

“Arthur if you take Morgan on your own, you will begin a string of events which will…”

“Just because you read it in a book when you were a kid Henry doesn’t mean it is going to happen.” Arthur replied with small shake of his head as he looked at Henry with brotherly affection.

“Don’t underestimate my imagination.” Henry laughed. Then he realized, it didn’t say Henry Mills on the table. That was the name that Regina had given him in the land without magic. But here in the land which magic history would know him under a different name in time. Merlin, he would be Merlin and Merlin was always a magician.

Arthur and Henry were separating both turning about the room to make arrangements in the last few moments of peace they would have before Morgan le Fay began her attack on what he could on assume was Camelot. There was no way he was going to be able to tell Henry all of this when he returned back to Prydain. But he did not have to worry about that yet.

He looked back at Belle. The blonde girl was still tugging on her shoulder but she was paying her no attention as she embraced the older version of him tears in her eyes.

“I’m proud of you.” She said as they pulled apart. She was crying, huge large tears which tore her face up into ugly expressions which ripped at his soul.

“Look after her, Tens” The older version of himself said with a fond smile at the blonde girl. “I love you Belle.” He added with another kiss.

“I love you too Rumpelstiltskin.” She replied.

The hall was beginning to fade around him and he understood that if he wanted to continue on with this vision he would need to move and follow his older version out of the room. He watched as himself, seventy or eighty years in age as he hobbled down the stone steps to the courtyard bellow were men and women awaited instructions on horseback.

Henry was at his side, pulling him back from the awaiting riders, whispering in his ear. “Arthur doesn’t know what the real plan is.” Henry said in a dark voice. “I’m trusting you to do this.”

The older man looked up at him and breathed. “I’ve made my peace Henry, I won’t let you down.”

Henry nodded as he pulled in his grandfather for one last embrace. “Thank you.” He whispered before pulling away to join Arthur’s side of a horse of his very own.

The older Rumpelstiltskin continued through the yard, the younger version following him closely as both men hobbled in and out of the horses and riders preparing for battle. The older man was walking toward a horse alongside the far wall with purpose. The creature was pale in the moonlight just as the cloak of its rider was. The rider leaned against the animal their head well covered by the thick material.

His hand, old and wrinkled, reached out and patted the creature gently. “Not yet.” He whispered softly.

The hood of the rider turned as the figure looked at him. “No, not yet.” The voice of a woman, rich and smoky replied.

“Funny how the cards all fall.” Rumpelstiltskin sighed.  “You’ve been chasing after me for one way or another for a few hundred years now and this is how it ends. This is how my allotment ends. One last trick to play, one last deception so that it is I who will face Morgan le Fay and not Arthur. Does it bother you that I redeemed myself in the end?”

“Judgment is not part of my job description.” She replied coldly.

He let out half a laugh as he turned and faced the rider who was still hiding her face behind the deep hood. “No it wouldn’t be. Make it swift.” He said as he turned away from her.

“As you wish.” The woman called out behind him as the younger Rumpelstiltskin closed his eyes willing now to give up on seeing his final day.

He looked up at the shining face of Henry, twenty years younger than the man he had just seen joking with Arthur who would attempt to be King of everything. “Well?” There was so much hope in his face, so much expectation which Rumpelstiltskin was sure he would not be able to fulfill.

“You don’t get magic by any dark means Henry.”

“But how do I-“

He raised a hand, sitting in the mud with a pig in Prydain was one of the last things he wanted to be doing after what he had just seen.  “Sometimes the most magical things can only been seen if you look very closely at the world around you and notice the smallest details which you have never seen in the things around you.”

The teenager was unimpressed. “You’re not going to give me a straight answer are you?” He said with a small nod of his head.

It would be impossible and irresponsible to do so. “Does that bother you Henry?”

The boy shook his head. As much as he had not often see patience as a virtue he also realized that he had seen over thirty years into the future, and that so many things could happen between then and now. “No, grandfather. It doesn’t bother me.” He replied as he helped him up from the ground.

The walk back to the doorway was short and quick and when they returned back to Storybrooke all he wanted to do was go back home and see Belle. He knew how the story ended and for once he didn’t desire to change the outcome, it was the worst feeling in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hen Wen, Eilonway, Taran and Guri all come from the rather obscure Disney movie the Black Cauldron based on the book series The Chronicles of Prydain which I loved as a kid.


	13. Wind-Up

_Storybrooke, 2017_

“Priya that is really rude" Lily exclaimed with a giggle as they stepped out onto the gym.

Henry turned to see the two girls chattering to one another. Sometimes he was glad that they were such close friends, other days he seriously wondered if they were talking about him behind his back. He used to always hate gym class. He understood the point of it all, he just didn't see how learning to play indoor volleyball was going to help his future in any way. But ever since the word had gotten out about "Natalie Smiths” sword fight with the deputy the classes had taken a much more fascinating approach.

Soon there were people coming up to him in the halls asking if he had really witnessed the gym teacher wielding two swords. His confirmation had set off a flurry of rumors about her. That she had a black belt in karate, that she was a former FBI agent or a former assassin. Suddenly they were referring to her as the Black Widow or Wonder Woman to her face. She seemed to get a laugh out if it all, neither confirming nor denying the rumors to the point where Henry wondered what sort of a witch she really was. He had begun his own research in silence, but there seemed to be no traces of any warrior witches he could find, with the exception of any Valkyries or Amazons.

But what he soon came to enjoy about gym class was not just spending time with that riddle of a woman, but learning from her too. He didn't know if they would ever get to sword wielding, but he was having a grand enough time learning a more practical physical education.

"All right settle down."  Smith called out as she paused the music. Waiting for them to sit in the stands scattered behind her were a collection of blue mats laying on the floor to cushion their feet, and smaller hand held red and black practice pads stacked beside them. "Today we're going to learn how to punch, because some of you are bound to get in a fight at some point in your life and you should know how to punch without breaking your hand." There were snickers through the class but she looked at those in question sternly. "Am I wrong?" She snapped sassily, "Now everybody make a fist with whichever hand is comfortable."

Henry looked down at his own hand which he has curled into a ball, he was not the only one two do so as she continued on with her instructions. "Now you don't want to curl your thumb under the other fingers, because you will definitely break it that way, and you don't want it resting alongside your pointer finger because again it will be broken. Take you thumb and rest it across the pointer and middle fingers so that it is parallel to the ground. Now that you've done that I want you to pull you whole arm back to your waist and turn you hand upside down."

He was not the only one who looked up to see her demonstration. Her hand was resting along the side of her waist her elbow behind her as her arm made an acute angle.

"Your hands upside down." Jason called out in a grating voice.

"Yeah I know that's how you get any power."  She shot back at him. "As you hand comes forward” she was doing it in slow motion. "At the very last moment you want to twist your arm at wrist really but the whole arm is evolved, so that your thumb is parallel to the ground. And that is the basics to how you throw a punch."  She smiled at them, most of them had their arms out stretched in front of them all looking rather silly. "Everybody find a spot on the floor we'll practice some more before we use the pads.

They scattered across the floor each of them focusing on punching at the low solar plexus level each time that she blew the whistle. Eventually they turned to groups, one person holding a pad as they went through in line punching it face times until they ran to the end.

The blaring, throbbing music returned once more in an attempt to keep them from talking too much on line but the only made them shout louder.

"Hey miss, miss." Jason was calling after her. He was holding the pad laughing as Priya hit it weakly.  "When are we going to learn how to kick?"

"I don't know if you're ready to handle that Jason."  She smirked

"I so am." He retorted brashly. He pulled the pad off his arm and handed it to her. She held it up allowing him to get in a few decent blows.

"You’re alright."

"Alright."  He scoffed "I'm the best one here."

"We’ll see about that."  She replied he couldn't the other teens behind him all rolling their eyes hoping for him to be proved wrong. "Lily” she said holding up and gesturing to her

Lily who had thrown more than one well aimed punch in her time in Neverland stepped up and stood in front of the teacher. She drew her arm back in the wind up and there was a distinct whoosh of air as it was punched out if the newly dented bag.

She turned and looked at her boyfriend smugly. "I told you I was part of the kick ass princess team."  She winked as he stood there looking at her stunned. Lily got back in line high fiving several other girls along the way while Jason look the practice pad back with a defeated look on his face.

"Anyone who can't knock their pad holder back off the mats doesn't have to put them away at the end of class."  Smith called out with a smirk on her face as she walked away.

"So what do you think her story is?"  Priya whispered into his ear her breath was hot upon his ear as her hands rested gently on his shoulder.

"Priya."  Henry shook his head not wanting to get involved he knew more about Natalie Smith then most of them in the room probably did but he's going to go telling the truth to any of them because he knew they would not understand.

"Come on," She pinched him gently "I'm partial to the FBI one. But you're the one who is good at coming up with stories. Come on Henry, we do this all the time."

They did in fact. It had become somewhat of a hobby of his, seeing people around town watching them in general trying to figure out their life story from what he could only observe.  He found a calm enjoyment in it even though he couldn't really explain why deducting someone’s life stories was so fascinating to him. But it would be a useful skill which would help him in what he was pre-destined to achieve in his life. He looked across the room at the woman who was pretending to be Natalie Smith. Both the illusion and the real woman behind her were a mystery to him but the smile on Priya’s face was tempting.

He took a breath and began. "Definitely former military given her wide berth of skills and talents, probably black ops just from general demeanor. But she's relatively young and she doesn't seem like the kind of person who would be resigning in disgrace; so you have to assume there was an injury of some sort which kept her from returning to the field. Bullet in the leg or arm? Arm seems more likely since she doesn't walk with a limp, but clearly it was something serious. More serious? I wonder if she has any scars that could tell us a lot of information… But I get a feeling something happened to her. I'm imagining some sort of battlefield situation, she took the bullet to the chest piercing the armor she was wearing. She had to go into surgery, was medevacked out of the middle of a desert to a hospital in Germany where she spent 20 hours in surgery. They didn’t think she'd make it through, but she did. After the surgery she wasn’t what she used to be so she can return to the field, or maybe she didn’t want to. Feeling to jarred from the experience she created a new life for herself, found her family again, found her sisters again, moved to some quiet little town and where she thought nothing could ever go wrong but she has no clue the true nature of Storybook, Maine.  But she's here hiding in disguise, with a different name Natalie Smith PE teacher, definitely not what she was planning to be based on well everything I can see but it’s where she is now."

"You know you're not too far off from the truth Sherlock."

Henry turned around to look at the woman in question. "Really?" Priya gasped at her. "You’re like some former black ops marine?"

"More like former secret service agent?"

"Did you get injured? Did you take a bullet for the President?" Henry asked unable to hide his honest curiosity.

She shook her head as she laughed. "I was more on the detail of some foreign dignitaries, and while I was injured occasionally I never had to have twenty hours' worth of surgery." She added blowing her whistle indicating that it was time for them to head back up to the locker rooms.

"So why are you here then?" Priya asked.

Henry looked between the two of them wondering what her answer would be. "You never know where life takes you until you live it."  Priya rolled her eyes as she walked back to the locker rooms. "You know you’re better at making up stories than you think.”

He let out a small laugh. "I’m still not confident enough to write any of them down.” He scoffed.

She smiled at him knowingly. ”You will be one day.”

“Yeah that will be the day." He muttered. “But will it be the truth or lies which I am writing down?”

“Sometimes the best truths are the ones that fell like lies.” She winked at him.

_~~~_

_The Enchanted Forest, 2043_

“He’s a good man, Henry.” Guinevere whispered as she sat next to Olivia Swan. They were both sitting in the garden looking at the children playing. They were her children of course, Guinevere and Arthur’s; she had done her expected royal duty and given Camelot four possible heirs. For many years the children had been scattered throughout different kingdoms for their own protection against the forces of evil which were trying to tear their father’s empire apart.

Linnea, the youngest, had come to the Enchanted Forest two years ago when she had been ten. Olivia knew her well now after taking the girl into her protection. She watched as Linnea, learned useful skills like sailing and fighting just like her brothers had, just like most girls of the realms were now.

She had lived her whole life during war time. Sometimes Olivia was jealous of Addison who gotten to grow up on the other side of the door. Her wife didn’t have to live through village raids, or the darkness which enveloped the sky. She didn’t experience firsthand how fathers and sons went off to war to never return until one day it was the mothers and sisters going off to war as well. She knew that growing up on Storybook had provided it challenges for her wife, that the very matter of her parentage was something to raise alarm,  but still she knew that sometimes Addison didn't really understand.

"I know he is." Olivia replied to the other Queen after a long reverie. She looked at Linnea in the courtyard with a sword in her hand, doing far better than her brother Christopher in the game they were playing.

Guinevere looked at her and smiled. "It’s hard when they go off to war. When you don't know when they will return. I always begged to go with them in the beginning, I did until Ashton was born. I still do go with them but the truth of the matter is I hate it. When I was a little girl I read stories about princesses. The ones in the stories lived in the finest castles, they married the lovely princes, had children, attended balls, they did what royals did. I did my duty, I gave Camelot three princes, I danced at balls and I knighted knights. But I'm almost 45 years old and I spent most of my adult life fighting a war… they don't tell you about that fact in the story books."

"No they don't" Olivia nodded with agreement "I've spent my whole life living with the realities of war. When I was little I came to terms with the fact that I was probably spend the rest of my life sailing on a ship being loyal to whoever was most popular at the moment. I accepted the fact that I would probably die young in battle, I never planned on being a Queen. "

"Neither did I." Gwen smiled. "In my world a queen was a dying occupation. This type of royalty hasn't been seen in a few hundred years. I can only imagine what the job will look like when we finally turn to peace. Arthur will have some different ideas about how to rule the united kingdoms, than it has been in the past."

Olivia nodded, when this was all over it seem to depend so much on her. She was waiting for the day when Henry would burst on through the doors and give her some strange cure all. It had been weeks since he had mentioned the quest which she would need to go on. But she didn’t understand what they were all waiting for, it seemed as if this should be a matter of urgency and yet time was all they seemed to linger in.

The sound of a blast was familiar, she listened closely as the horn called out one, twice and finally a third time. The signal of unwelcome visitors. Olivia rose to her feet looking around the small garden at the others who were doing the same.

"Christopher let's go" Guinevere was calling out to her youngest son, who was standing with the play sword in hand as if his birthright would somehow make it a fearsome some real one in a time of need.

"But Mother I can fight." He called out.

She shook her head as she took a hold of Linnea's hand. "Not until we know what it is.” She turned and looked at Olivia, her expert face hiding how afraid she was.

“There is passage up to the castle through the temple.” Olivia replied as she headed towards the old stone building covered in vines at the corner of the garden. A monument to gods long forgotten, it stood more like a crypt of the dead rather than a place once filled with light.

Olivia threw open the heavy doors with a hard tug, her feet slipping on the roots and uneven stones as she ran inside followed by a small entourage of royalty and a small collection of guards who had been out in the gardens with them. As the doors closed after the last arrival they were thrown into darkness as hands began to run up and down slime covered stones to find the entrance of the passageway.

"Are there any torches” Came the childlike voice of Linnea echoing off of the stone walls.

“The entrance is on the right side.” Olivia called out as everyone shifted to one side of the temple in an attempt to find a way out. Outside the sounds of the warning blasts were mixing with the cries of something else entirely.

“Those are dragons.” Christopher called out in the darkness as his mother lit a torch.

“It still doesn’t mean were going out there.” Guinevere replied. She turned and looked at Olivia who was running her hands up and down the stone walls of the temple. “Have you found the way yet?" 

Olivia pushed on one of the panels the wall sliding forward to reveal a dark and musky path. The dragon’s cries grew louder as they ran along the dark uneven pathway up to the safety of the castle, hearts pounding as they saw the lights of safety up ahead. Olivia was reminded of her voyages on the seas, if that feeling of pure exhilaration and unknowing when a storm came.

Olivia pushed aside the tapestry which concealed the secret passageway and was greeted by the sounds of more clinking armor as the guards ran towards who they only could assume to be intruders. She held her hands up in a half surrender as the two queens and their party made their way into the corridor.

"My lady I apologize” The head of the guard began but she paid him no attention as she brushed past him to the nearest window looking upwards towards the sky.

There were dragons soaring through the air, their wings flapping rapidly as they cried out loud light but they were not the dragon of foes but rather allies. Olivia set off at a run through the corridors barking out commands as she picked up the edges of her skirt to aid her pace. "Tell the guards to stand down those are not foes, those are the dragon riders."

"My grace the dragon riders are in pursuit of another creature.” A guard spoke out in a gruff voice.

She could feel her eyebrow raising as she turned and looked at him sharply “What is the manner of this creature?"

He looked at her with beady eyes filled with fear. “We do not know my grace."

"Let me see it."  She commanded her voice dry as she watched the head of the guard nod.  She turned and looked at the older queen and her children. All three of them prepared for battle against the unknown but Olivia knew that their lives were more important than hers. "Guinevere you should head down to where you are safe.”

For a moment protest flashed upon her eyes, but Guinevere nodded taking her children by the hand and pulling them back towards the inner circles of the castle. Olivia turned and looked to the guards. "To the high tower." She said leading the way as they followed in her wake.

What was normally a very long climb seem to go quickly as she ran up the towers step and threw open the door looking out of the windows to see the red leather clad riders upon there multitude of dragons passing by. Archers we're standing by at the open windows arrows at the ready as they all looked at the dark creature which the dragons were chasing after.

"What is it” Olivia asked turning to one of the most senior archers.

"I do not know my grace" He replied shaking his head sadly as if personally disappointed by his knowledge of the subject. "Ma ’me do we have permission…" He paused indicating with a small tilt of his head to the other archers, she gave him a nod "At the ready…loose." He yelled.

The arrows flew through the air toward the dark creature as Olivia watched it avoid them all with skillful swoops and dives. The creature moved gracefully through the sky down into the courtyard of the castle before quickly ascending once more into open air not bothered by the dragons which were in pursuit or the arrows which rained down from above.

The creature flew out over the water as if examining the ships which were moored to the docks. Olivia watched as it was reflected below in the smooth surface of the water, but it was not a mirror of the dark winged creature with red eyes but rather familiar white bird.

"STOP!" She commanded loudly as her hands flew into the air "Stop" She repeated in a collected tone.

"My Grace." A voice whispered as a tentative hand was placed on her shoulder.

If she was anyone else they would not have listened to the daughter of a fisherman who came from an half a world away. "That is a creature we do not kill." Olivia murmured darkly as she gathered up her skirts once more and looked at the archers in the tower "Hold your weapons; that is an order." She added before she swept down the staircase once more only to be greeted by Regina at the foot of the stairs.

It was her sons who were up in the air she had every right to look at Olivia with as much content that was on her face but Olivia turned and gave her a steely glaze. "You better have a good reason for this" Regina said unsympathetically to Olivia.

The clan of dragons were landing in the courtyard bellow and both women briefly exchanged a glance before setting off to meet them. They quickly rounded the corner only to be greeted by Roland and Charlie who are running towards them both of them painting but they looked at their mother.

“I don’t know what that thing is…” Roland began as he struggled to catch his breath. “I don’t know if we can.”

"It’s an albatross." Olivia said calmly but the look on Regina face with anything but clam is she turned and snapped at her sons.

"Follow it" She said loudly her finger pointing up into the air as she gestured wildly "Follow that bird. It’s going to disappear soon and I need to know what it looks like when it does.” She said with a hardness in her eyes that both her sons knew all too well meant that this was not something to challenge their mother on.

Olivia turned and looked at her at the men scampered away. "I don't understand-"

"That creature is looking for Addison. And it is not going to find her in anywhere else other than Storybook twenty six years ago where you need to be.”

She licked at her lips as world swirled around in her head. “Why is it looking for Addison?”

She looked up at the sky her eyes glassy in remembrance of events long past. “Mordred is sending it there in the hopes that Addison will kill it."

"I have to go, send me back now." Olivia spat.

Regina took her hand shaking her head. "I won’t know how to get you there until the boys tell me what they will see. And even then it will take a few days to get everything ready, all you can do is wait and be ready when the time comes for you to leave once again.”

Olivia nodded. She had just returned back to her castle from heading to Murcia. It had been an uneventful trip, she has returned with a dark box which seem to weigh nothing and yet seemed to have all the importance in the world.  When she returned after a fortnight she found that only Regina had stayed and that Guinevere as her son had arrived.

Olivia watched as Regina swept away, no doubt to give her sons more instructions upon their return. There were times when Olivia was very glad that she was on the side of unification with the kingdoms and realms. It meant that she never had to experience any of this alone, that there were always people to support and guide her. But it also meant she had to follow instructions, and that sometimes proved difficult for the former pirate.

Being kept in the dark about information about her wife, being told where and when to go places, it was slowly beginning to irritate her, though she knew she could say nothing.

With a sigh, she turned down the corridor in the opposite direction from which Regina had headed knowing that at this point it was just a waiting game. She was qualified to sail ships into battle, but not to ride onto the back of a dragon and chase after mysterious birds.  For the moment there was nothing she could do. That would have been a welcomed though to her wife, but to Olivia it only made her shiver.

It was hard not to pay attention to where she was going with the cavalry of guards who trailed in her wake. It was just another reason why she disliked the palace so much sometimes. Here guards clung on to traditions here possible assailants had no problem I'm making an attempt on her life.  Upon the seas it was different, upon the sea sailors saw Addison's flag and knew the wrath which would be fall them if they were to try and harm her, upon that ocean a flag could do a far more effective job than any guard. Still after nearly a decade she was beginning to tune out the clink of armor echoing off the walls as she made her way back to her rooms.

The bedroom was one of the few places of solitude within the castle. It was here where the only presence of her security force was the barred and shut balcony door. She could still look through the window and see the outlines of the dark winged creatures in flight over the waters.  Yet the sight of the albatross in pursuit seem to bring her no relief as she knew it would only lead her in to more adventure. She didn't mind adventure, she was a pirate at heart, but what she wanted most of all were answers.

There was a small ticking sound she turned around looking at the large room with a smile on her face as she called out in a whisper.  "Linnea."

The grating set within the wall, originally meant for something long forgotten gave a small shutter as Linnea opened it from within and stepped into the bedroom. Olivia looked at the 12 year old girl with the smile on her face, she was beginning to take after the two queens to whom she had been a ward of rather than her parents.  She had quickly found and was in firm use of the many hidden passageways of the castle.

"Does your mother know you ran off?” Olivia asked not need to have a hysterical Queen on her hands on today of all days.

Linnea give a small nod as she joined Olivia at the window "I want to be a dragon rider one day."

Olivia did her best not to comment. She knew that the hopes and dreams of a 12 year old we’re not always the careers they would end up having. One of the only people whom she knew to be an exception to this belief was Addison.  Her wife had told her after a long days of work; how lucky she often felt to not only succeed in acquiring the childhood career she wanted but also how  fortunate she was to also find that she exceled at it. Ever since her father told her the stories Addison had wanted to be the Queen of the Seas. When she learned that all those stories of magic and queens and kings and pirates were real, part of her felt elation at the possibility of achieving that childhood dream. So she set out on the path of becoming the Queen of the Seas finding another place to rule over along the way. Even though there were days when the occupation and birthright felt more like to work than anything else, they were overshadowed by knowledge that she could imagine doing nothing else for the rest of her life.

Olivia looked at Linnea knowing that she would probably not be as fortunate as Addison was. If she was lucky these wars would be finished in a matter of years and soon they would be forgotten. The princesses’ later teenage years would be spent in the bliss of freedom which had been unknown to anyone in the realm for 20 years.

"Have you ever ridden one?" Olivia asked out of genuine curiosity.

She knew that Linnea have never written ridden a dragon in her time in the Enchanted Forest, but perhaps she had in the one of the places she had lived in before. Olivia didn't even know what castle she had come to them from. Part of her was never jealous at the measures which Arthur and Guinevere had taken to ensure their children's safety. Their four children had been born in Camelot, but they have spent little time in the city since their birth and little within their parents care. Addison had once explained to her that in the realm of earth, such things had once been common especially for those children of high or noble birth. But in the two years since Linnea have come to live in the Enchanted Forest Olivia had only seen the stresses that such an arrangement had on the family.  Secretly she had been pleased that she and Addison had a very easy excuse to postpone ever beginning their family.

"Well I've ridden a horse before” Linnea replied with the innocence of a child

Olivia gave a small laugh. "I'm led to believe there's quite a difference. Perhaps when they return you may be able to convince Roland or Charlie to let you ride one." Her eyes lit up at the possibility as she turned her attention back to the mass of dark wings on the horizon. 

Olivia remembered the day the princess has been born. It is been a quiet affair, kept that way out of necessity. All of Arthur’s children were more myths and legends then fact to most people who lived in the kingdoms. But after three sons born in somewhat quick succession there has been rejoicing at the birth of a princess. Olivia wasn't supposed to have known, she had just met Addison they were still teenagers sailing at sea not yet settled down to the life within the castle. But Addison had asked her to come as they sailed to Camelot in a small boat, waiting along the sandy beaches in the cover of darkness. It had been a job for pirates that was what Addison had told her as they sailed to fringes of the city, yet Olivia had remained in the dark until she saw a figure running towards them there feet slipping in the deep sand as they clung onto something. She had been stunned to see the face of the King in the darkness.

"I told you to come alone Addy." He hissed at her as he clung onto the red blanket.

"I trust her Arthur" Was all the Addison had replied until his face seemed to fall into acceptance. He nodded but the King still looked so worried as he stood there on the beach the incoming tide rising around his feet.

"I hate doing this" He said with tears in his eyes as he handed her the red blanket. It shifted letting out a cry and Olivia knew that there was an infant child within. He reached over the edge of the boat, pulling back the blankets to kiss the dark skin of the child in the moonlight. "I'll see you soon Linnea." He had said wearily as he took a step back.

Addison had drawn the newborn closer to her chest. "She'll be safe Arthur. I promise." Addison had replied as Olivia had been the one to row away every stroke filling her with regret and guilt. It hadn't been unit they had gotten back aboard the small sailboat that the woman had talked to one another.

"That’s the princess of Camelot" Olivia had said dully as she looked at Addison the woman who she had been in a relationship with for less than 6 months.

"Yes she is” Addison had replied as she headed below decks. Olivia had followed, baffled and wanting answers. "Head to the Isle of Herman."

"But..." Olivia had no intention of disregarded her order, but she was filled with wonder at the world she had fallen into. "Why are we taking her away?"

Addison had given her a look she would never forget, the pure contempt at the act in which she was helping with. Olivia hadn't known then about her wife's family history, how her own mother had too been a princess sent off to another realm. "Because there is a war, and during a war children must be protected."

"But she is heir to Camelot."

Addison has shook her head while biting her lip.  "Livy, she thee older brothers."

Olivia had been stunned to learn the news they had taken Linnea through a very convoluted way back to Storybook, where she had lived with Addison's grandparents until she was five. Olivia did not see the princess again until nearly nine years later when Addison now her wife had told her that the child they had once smuggled of Camelot would be coming to live with them.

Now Olivia looked at the girl who she was helping raise.

"I hope for your sake that this is over soon." Olivia muttered as she looked at Linnea. "It’s not easy to grow up in a time of war, and there has been war for as long as I can remember. Hopefully you can learn what peace is like."

Linnea nodded but there was also something dark in her expression. "I've never lived with my parents before. Not for more than a week at a time. I don't think in my life there has ever been a time when all six of us were in one place. Sometimes I worry about what that would look like."

Olivia felt guilty she had been the one to take her away from her family all those years ago. "I remember chaos that was what I remember as a child. Running along the beach with my brothers and sisters, with the other children in my town. We would watch the ships sail in, with the greatest excitement. I was five when I first started working at the docks. I would clean the ships at port, first the decks then I learned how tie knots from a kind pirate and so I worked on sails. I was twelve when I left the islands. A year later my village was plundered and destroyed by some pirates, Addy wasn't...she's younger than me she would have been nine when it happened. There was no village when I returned. I'm not the only person in the world who shares a similar story."

Now it was Linnea who the guilty expressions. Olivia sighed, she felt bad that she had made the girl realize the context of her problems, but she wasn't exactly heartless. "I’m sorry."

"Oh Linnea." Olivia sighed as she embraced the young girl. "I wish you a thousand more happy days, I wish it for us all.”

There was a knock on the door, and Olivia permitted them to come in. It was Charlie and Regina both of them appearing ragged as they came in to the bedroom.

"News?"  She demanded as the door closed behind them.

"There was a bang in the sky, like a firework and then it was gone.” Charlie replied.

She looked towards Regina. "Do you know what that was?"

"Yes." She nodded. "It’s a combination of magic, of a few types of magic, but now that we have a description I think I'll be able to make the spell and send you back."

"Today."

She shook her head "No not today. First of all we need to collect a few other witches from other lands to help join with me to do the spell. We will also need to do it in the same location where the original curse the one I used on Snow all those years ago originated from. But we should leave here as soon as possible."

Olivia looked around at the castle. She never minded leaving it, it was her home but she was not overly attached to it. Though it worried her that neither she nor Addison would be occupying it in the immediate future. She nodded as she looked at Regina, knowing that there was no reason to delay matters now.

Olivia didn’t know what the next few days would hold for her, she didn’t know if she would come back to this place at all or if she too would be stuck in the past.  She turned and looked back at Linnea giving her a small smile feeling back for leaving her once again.

“Don’t you have something to ask?” She said her voice breaking as she looked at the little girl who had never truly had the change to be a child.

There was hesitation on her face as the princess looked at the two Queen in the room and the half burnt and scarred men, but she nodded and gathered up her courage. “Can I ride one of your dragons?” She said in a squeak.

Roland smiled, looking like his father as he reached out his hand towards her. “Only if it lets you.” He replied as he led her out of the room.

“Are you ready?” Regina asked as she watched them disappear.

“As much as I’ll ever be.” Olivia replied as she stepped out into the corridor shutting the door of her safe bedroom behind her, not knowing when she would return to it.


	14. Midnight

_Storybrooke, 2017_

“Such a Slytherin thing to say.” Mary Margaret laughed in the stillness of night. The world outside of the window seemed to be quiet and yet inside there was laughter as bottles of wine were passed around, the plates from dinner long cleared as warn conversation continued into the late hours. The candles illuminated the table in otherwise darkness were beginning to drip onto the table in small pools of opalescent wax.

The youngest Smith sister was collecting a ball of the still pliable wax molding it between her fingers absentmindedly as she let out a heaty chuckle.  “Why am I in Slytherin?” She repeated, the conversation having turned to the fictional categorical system half an hour ago. “Is this a whole we can’t share houses within the family thing, because that is not fair.” Her hands flew up in a form of self-defense “If anything you should have been in Slytherin.” She pointed at her oldest sister. “We all know the teenaged you would have been a Death Eater.”

Caroline’s head rolled to look at her sister and for a moment the dizziness got to her before she could reply. “First of all, I am stupidly and stubbornly brave to the point where it gets me in trouble. Second, there were evil Gryffindor’s, so I had chosen to become a Death Eater it wouldn’t have been the first time. And secondly… thirdly… of all you don’t know what was going on in my brain when I was fourteen. It wasn’t all oh shit I’m a witch I better be evil, it was more oh shit I’m a witch I better not turn evil.” She paused to run a hand through her hair. “And you’re in Slytherin because you always get what you want.”

“That’s not fair I’m the baby of the family, and psychologically speaking youngest children always tend to get their way.” Lucy whined.

“You would also do anything to known to mankind to get your way.” Addison said softly. “And considering who your favorite relative was when you were growing up I think you know all the tricks of the trade.” She added with a straight face.

Even Caroline gasped loudly as a thin lipped smile formed across Addison’s face. Lucy reached out and punched her sister in the arm. “I am so telling Mom when we get home.”

“Not Dad?” Addison laughed.

“No.” Lucy yelled through gritted teeth. “Cause he would probably high five you.” She muttered into her wine glass as she took another long sip.

“Okay what about her.” David asked pointing at Addison.

“Hufflepuff.” They both said together.

David snorted. “I would have said Ravenclaw.”

Caroline rolled her eyes. “This has nothing to do with four different siblings all have to be in different houses theory.” She began looking at Lucy sharply. “But our older brother is the textbook definition of Ravenclaw and she is loyal as fuck.”

Addison gave a sharp nod. “She is right. I think I would be in Hufflepuff.”

“Think.” Lucy scoffed. “Um your official mantra should be Honey Badger don’t give a shit. Because you are real life badger.”

Mary Margaret shook her head not seeing the comparison. “How is she like a badger?”

“Cause she looks all charming on the outside but she will fuck you up if you cross her.” Caroline replied.

Addison seemed uncertain of this characterization. “Umm, I’d like an example please?” She asked her sisters skeptically.

Lucy and Caroline looked at one another, trying to decide on which occasion. “Black Rock.” Lucy said, and even Addison blushed at the mention.

“What is black rock?” Mary Margaret asked. Caroline shook her head, she had never been the place and had no idea of what her sister was mentioning.

“Black Rock is this pirate trading post.” David replied.

His wife looked at him with wide eyes. “I’m going to assume that Killian told you about this place and if that is wrong in don’t want to be corrected.” She said with a smile, gesturing for the girls to continue on.

“Like cantina scene from Star Wars but nowhere near as civilized.” Lucy replied. “So were there, because her wife had something to do. You have to understand there are a lot of men there and very few females. But the ship we happened to come on was crewed by like almost all women and… this was like four years ago…. Why the fuck was I there? I should have been in school. God the amount of school I missed because of all your shenanigans. Anyways,” She paused and Addison was blushing as she continued on her story.

“This guy is railing on one of the skips about how could she possibly be a good pirate on the account of her being a woman. And she just looks at him and says ‘do you know who I am?’ And he’s like ‘No but I can assume that you another bitch who thinks she can hoist a sail.’ So she grabs him, literally by the ear, pulls him out of the bar onto the biggest fucking ship in the bay which happens to be hers. And half of the pub has now drunkenly followed onto the deck of the ship and she’s says ‘Fine you think women can’t sail, let’s see which one of us can hoist the main faster.’ And they do and of course she is better at it. So then after she had won, he’s rambling on talking shit about her. So she goes and kicks him in the balls and then sticks a knife to this throat and says. ‘You know who owns this ship. Me, I’m not just a Captain, I’m a fucking Admiral and those are my flags. And when you sail you better be loyal down to the last deck scrubber, even if it is a woman, and if you can’t accept that than you can’t call yourself a pirate.’ And then it’s like boom mic drop I’m awesome and you’re not, Admiral out.”

David and Mary Margaret were both looking at Addison with wide eyes. “You’re a pirate?” David whispered looking at her with narrowed eyes.

Addison let out a nervous giggle. “No, I’m just a sailor on occasion. And she is really drunk and doesn’t know what she is saying so we are going to leave right now.” She hissed as she looked to Caroline to help her get Lucy to her feet.

“I don’t want to go yet.” Lucy muttered as they helped her stand and walk to the door.

“Yeah well you just told them I’m a pirate so….”

“Oh shit!” Lucy yelled out in a voice which crashed through the silence of the night. “I’m sorry.”

“That’s okay, I just always assumed that you were good a keeping secrets.” Addison whispered as she closed the door behind them. “I’m the only one in this family who isn’t a lightweight apparently.”

“Daddy’s girl.”  Lucy snickered as Caroline opened the door to their apartment and Addison swung her sister inside.

“Shut up Malfoy.” Addison replied as she threw her sister down on the couch.

**

In the darkness the word was quiet. In the darkness of evil the world was quiet out of fear. Terrified of the creatures which hunted in the cover of the velvet sky, of the spells and magic which took place under a full moon. It had been in the darkness of those nights of terror when Regina had stood atop looking down at the dark forests where people hid from her and wound her cunning plans.

Now in a world that was less magical there was only the natural darkness. She hiding of a sun as the moon rose to weakly take its place. The world was half asleep now, as had been tradition for thousands of centuries. Eyes closed and brains shut off as dream took over and provided fantastical situations most of which would be forgotten when eyes fluttered open in the morning. Now in the darkness of night there were only her thoughts of tomorrow, impeded by the rolling thunder and the whimpering of the dog at her side.

Regina looked down at the mutt which she had somehow managed to come to love after all these years. “I can’t stop it.” She added gently as she stroked the animal’s black and grey fur. She looked up at the lightning dancing across the sky. It was unusual to have a storm this time of year, a fact which made her mind jump to the wrong sorts of conclusions about what kind of night this was.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Robin with the same worry on his face. “Are you alright?”

She nodded her head at him, of course she was a right the nighttime was her natural home. “Are the boys still asleep?”

“I think they could sleep through about anything.” Robin laughed.

She was remembering what she had said a long time go about Natalie Smith, that lighting should appear with ever step she took. She was beginning to regret ever saying that dreading that her words suddenly had prophetic properties.

Something moved outside in the darkness, a blur hanging in the air for only a moment before it was gone. “Did you see that?” She pointed out at the darkness of the night which was only broken by the lightning strikes. The blur appeared again, possibly a winged creature, though it was moving too fast to tell. “There’s something out there.”

Robin nodded, a heroic expression taking over his face. “I’ll check it out.” He said as he moved towards the front door. He opened up the hall closet, hidden in the back just in case was a bow and arrow. He hadn’t touched them other than to practice out in the woods. But he took up the weapon again as he stepped out into the night.

The wind dotted with specks of rain was swirling all around him as he looked up at the sky, the very notion of standing outside in such a storm making him nervous. He squinted at the starry sky, wondering what she had possibly seen. It had been foolish for him to go out in some halfhearted attempt to protect Regina. They both knew that she was the one worth more in any sort of a battle.

Then out of the corner of his eye he saw the movement as well. He turned to see a bird, with a body as larger than a human and a wingspan over twenty feet in length swooping towards him. He took a step back, gasping at the door handle as the giant white and black bird dove towards him. Its eyes glowing red as it looked at him with intent.

Its beak opened, and where he was expecting a caw of delight as it lunged he instead heard a deep and twisted voice. “The Queen, I want the Queen.” It cried out as it turned sharply upwards and began to fly upwards again.

Robin pulled the door open, shutting it firmly behind him. “We have a problem.” He shouted at Regina.

“What?” Regina replied honestly.

“There is a giant, talking, possibly man eating bird out there that wants the Queen.”

She was silent for a moment, her eye brows raising high as she thought. “Which Queen?” She asked flatly.

**

“It said it wanted a Queen.” Mary Margaret said as she closed the front door of the loft; getting David to stay behind had been half the battle of getting out of the door quickly. “Which one?”

“I don’t know.” Regina stressed on the other end of the phone.

“Well who else besides us are technically Queens?” She asked as she began to descend the stairs with loud booming steps.

“Elinor of the Highlands is…I think Aurora or Cinderella might technically be by now.” Regina paused. “Just we just ask every Princess in town to join us?” She said half joking out of desperation in the moment.

Mary Margaret stopped on the landing, trying to calm herself down. She could tell that Regina was reluctant to do this all over again, and she was as well. “Let’s get Elinor. We can leave Ella and Aurora out of this.”

“Emma should come too.”

There was a loud and audible breath which escaped Mary Margaret as she paused on the steps. “She’s not a Queen.” She said in a flat voice filled with a mothers worry.

“No. But she is the sheriff of this town, and she has experience with these things.”

“Fine.” Mary Margaret replied tensely as she began to walk again. “I’ll meet you at the library as soon as I can.” She put her phone in her pocket and ran down the rest of the stairs.

Caroline had been standing with her door to the ear listening in on the conversation. She turned back and looked at her sisters with a grimace on her face. “There is something in the town that wants a Queen. Its sounds like Regina, Elinor, Grandma and Mom are going to try and deal with it.”

Lucy was still a bit fuzzy looked at her with squinting eyes. “And?”

“Addy’s a Queen and were princesses.” Caroline replied as she reached for her coat.

“I’ve never seen you wear a tiara before.” Lucy said deeply.

“We should go.” Addison said as she stood up.

“And expose our true identities more than I already have tonight?” Lucy laughed.

“We can hide in the shadows and only help if we are needed.”

Lucy stood up walking over to the door with her sisters. She looked at them, unsure that this was the right course of action, but excited to once again have a place in the action.

**

The car came to a screeching halt in front of the library. Belle leap out looking about wildly at the surprised faces of Regina, Mary Margaret, Elinor, Emma and Killian who were all standing in front of the library. “What’s going on?” She asked with genuine concern fearing the worst as the thunder tore overhead.

Emma watched as Rumpelstiltskin got out of the car as well hobbling over to them. “Why are you here?” She asked the uninvited couple bluntly.

“I thought we could help, I uh… might know what this thing is.” He breathed gently, his eyes asking to help with the same furtive glance of a young child.

Killian looked at him darkly, even quicker to judge more harshly in a frantic situation. “And how is that?”

Rumpelstiltskin looked between the pair of them. “How are you both here, whose watching your kids?” He asked in an overly curious voice.

“Is that an offer to babysit?” Killian spat.

“Henry’s watching the girls.” Emma brushed him off. “Regina, what did Robin say it looked like?”

Regina blinked, looking at the strange group that was around her as she tried to focus on what was happening. “Giant black and white bird with red yes. As big as a person with a wingspan of twenty feet and it could talk too.”

“It’s a Lightening Bird.” Rumpelstiltskin said softly.

They all turned and looked at him. “How do you know?” Mary Margaret inquired gently.

“Fits the discription and there is a lightning storm happening. I don’t know why it would want a Queen though.” He replied with a shake of his head.

Regina gave him a curt nod. “Can we kill it?”

He nodded. “Fight fire with fire.” He replied.

“Well then. Time to summon the beast.” She said as she stepped out into the empty street. It would have been smarter to do this in a less public space and some part of the woods where no accidental eyes peering out of windows could see a fantastical creature landing in the middle of town. Regina was beginning to lose that strategical mind that had once served her so well, or at least her brain power was now focused on something far different.

 “All right then.” Regina yelled up to the heavens. “You want a Queen, well here I am. Regina Mills the evil Queen herself.” She roared trying to sound intimidating rather than fearful.

She looked up at the sky, waiting and watching as the lighting and thunder grew louder and louder. And then she saw the darkness swarm up above as the bird flew high above and landed in front of her in the road. It was vast, her neck had to crane almost all the way back to see the face of the creature, the red eyes which seemed to be burning with flames as it looked down at her.

“No.” It howled as it looked down at her.

“Fair enough.” She said as she took a step aside, it gave her more time to work on her fireball as she stepped back and Elinor took her place as a sacrifice.

“NO.” It roared even louder, a burst of lightening nearly blinding as it spread its wings in anger.

Mary Margaret stepped forward. In some twisted version of her life she had technically been a queen, yet she stood waiting in doubt. Surprised as the lightening bird leaned forward as it looked down at her, intrigued. “No.” It said in a softer voice than it had used to reject either Regina or Elinor.

She looked to her daughter, clearly Mary Margaret had been a step in the direction which the creature wanted to go, and this was the next logical step. Emma stepped forward taking her place, looking out of the corner of her eye at Regina who already had a small fireball in her hands.

“Just so you know.” She said with her hands raised above her head. “I’m technically still a princess.”

The lightening bird bent down sniffing her, examining her closely. Emma remained silent, her face stoic as she looked out of the corner of her eyes at the others watching her. It opened its beak to speak, half a smile on its avian face.

“HEY.” A small voice shouted out as a rock came and hit the bird in the head. It tuned around, filled with anger to look upon its assailant. Lucy was standing a block behind it, looking the creature squarely in the eye. 

"Your princess is in another castle." Lucy called out as the beast turned and faced her growling as it looked her over as if appealed that she would even attempt to speak to it. "Well not technically, but I just always wanted to say that and…” She stopped jabbering as the creature came closer and closer to her and finally stopped.

It sniffed her more than it had Emma, clearly Lucy was closer to the type of royal that it wanted. “You’re a Queen?” Emma breathed

“Well no…” She shrugged. “Maybe one day… I don’t know. I _think_ I’m far down in the line of succession, but it’s a complicated and I’m a bit drunk-” She stopped as its talons reach out and slashed her right arm. She screamed out of pain, her hand flying to cover the wound as she fell backwards hard onto the pavement and imediatly gasped in deep pair.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Regina yelled as she watched Caroline run out in front of her sister a dark sword in her hand.

"Where is the Queen?" The creature called out again in its booming voice which rattled all the windows along main street.

Lucy was scooting backwards, biting her lip to keep from crying in pain.  Caroline raised her sword as took a step forward and another, forcing the creature closer to the clock tower.

"I’m following the leader." She said with a glimmer in her eye as she nodded slightly.

"Wherever she may damn well go." Addison shouted behind the creature.

She was standing on the ground in front of the clock tower, an arrow pulled back in her arms as she saw a smile form across the creature face. She was what it had been looking for all this time. "My Queen." It hissed as she pulled back an arrow, it struck the creature in the shoulder. It yelped but did little other than to jump back and look at her scandalized.

Her hand reached back grabbing another arrow from the quiver and stringing it. She released it, listening as it hissed for a moment before it found its mark. The tip had been laden with small explosives and it burst on impact, a small surface hit against the bird’s feathers. Flames began to engulf it as it called out in pain.

But it was still approaching her as she continued to step backwards, flinging more arrows at it until the whole creature was aflame.

“STOP.” Caroline yelled as she dropped her sword and ran towards the flaming bird, seeing its true reflection in s puddle. Her hands rising into the air as she sent a blast of water towards it.

“What the hell are you doing?” Regina called out from the sidelines as she watched the bird fall to the ground in horror.

“My queen.” It said in a gentler voice as it looked up at Addison with sadness in its eyes.

She fell to her knees, taking the creature’s great head into her lap. It was still smoldering from the flames, it should have seared her skin right off, but it was cool to her touch.

A hand moved, one on top of another, in unity for only a minute. The long hand and the short hand pointed northerly, midnight had come and a new day had begun in the darkness. But no one paid attention to the time on the clock as they looked at half of the head of a giant bird in the woman’s lap.

She reached out and stroked it almost lovingly and in her caring touch the bird beneath changed into a creature of still formidable size but wholly more earthly origins.

“Does that treacherous knight not know who I am?” Addison whispered to the albatross. “Does he not know that I am made of fire and ice? That I can scorch and freeze; that I am the protector of those who have sworn their loyalty to me, and what I shall do to their enemies in revenge shall be horrific? That you do not cross me without the knowledge that it will be the very last thing you ever do?”

She looked down at the bird, stoking its white head slowly, as the creature was healed beneath her hands.  “I am so sorry that he has sent you here to be a pawn in this war which you have no part in.  Go back to that future and tell him. Tell him that this is the last time he uses my people against me, and when I see him again on the field of battle it shall be on his last day on earth.” She added softly, gently helping the bird to its feet, and pushing it up to the sky watching it take flight into the very thunderstorm from which it had come. She did not know it the creature Mordred had sent to harm her would make it back to him, but she knew the words she had spoken to be true.

They were looking at her in shock and awe but she only saw her sister wounded at the end of the street.

"Lu---" she stopped knowing that she couldn't call her sister that but she didn't also remember the new take that she had taken. "TENS." She called out the old nickname as she ran towards her.

Lucy was looking at her with wide eyes as Addison ran towards her, Killian and Rumpelstiltskin were already kneeling down to look at her but Addison was attempting to push through. Caroline stopped her, taking her by the shoulders. "Let me though." Addison yelled.

Caroline opened her mouth, but didn't know how to express the reality to her. Caroline had seen the reality in the creature, but it had been Addison who had changed the albatross back to its real form and healed it in the process. In that moment of rage, the glamour which had covered her true imagine had fallen away. Caroline reached out a hand and grabbed one of Addison dark tresses holding it out in front of her.

Addison shook her head as she looked at the long dark hair. "How did-"

"I thought magic was supposed to disappear at midnight." Caroline laughed as she pointed to the clock behind them. 12:02 AM. “Happy Birthday.” Caroline said as she changed her back to the face of Mia Smith.

Addison’s eyes widened today was her birthday she was twenty eight years old. “That’s fucking poetic.” She whispered as she and Caroline both laughed.

“And a little cruel to make you wait twenty eight years for this moment.” Caroline interjected. “I mean it happened at birth for me.”

Their other sister let out a scream and they both rushed towards Lucy who was struggling to sit up. "Are you alright, Tens?" Addison asked more concerned about her little sister that herself at the moment.

"Oh god nobody has called me that since I was a teenager." Lucy replied through a grimace. "My whole right side is fucked up. I dislocated my shoulder when I fell, just pop it back in." She said looking to Caroline.

Caroline bent forward placing her hands on her sister. Killian's hands flew up in the air. "No wait don't-" He shook his head as the blood spattered all over his face.

"She has a gash down to the bone." He grunted as he ripped off a length of his shirt and began to apply pressure on the wound. "You just made it worse."

"I can fix it let me see." Caroline said trying to push him out of the way, but Rumpelstiltskin caught her arm.

"You can't magic back the amount of blood she had lost. She'll need to go to the hospital. Killian help me get her to my car." Killian tied off the wound quickly as they both placed on of her arms around their necks. They stood slowly, Lucy between them as the hobbled to the car which Belle was now rushing to get started.

Lucy looked back at her sisters with a weak smile. "I'm going to be bloody pissed if I lose my fucking arm over this!" She shouted at them, and they both laughed.

Caroline took Addison by the hands, "We need to go." She said, more clearly implied in her eyes. They needed to learn if what had just happen was a fluke of Addison reveling her magic. The two sisters fled into the night as Lucy was driven off.

Lucy sat between Killian and Rumpelstiltskin becoming increasingly more doozy as she lost most blood.

"Tens." Rumpelstiltskin repeated. "Why did your sister call you tens?" He was remembering what he had seen in the vision of the future, the blonde haired teen pulling at Belle's arm. _Look after her, Tens_. He had watched the older version of himself call out.

"I had an uncle who used to call me that." Lucy replied her head rolling on her shoulders as they car turned careering down the empty streets.

"What happened to him, you said that you hadn't been called that since you were a teenager."

Killian interrupted him "Is this really the best time to-?"

"He's dead now." Lucy replied with a rattling breath.

Rumpelstiltskin looked at her... "Grace?" He whispered remembering the woman who Henry had seen.

"What?" Was all that Lucy whispered before she lost consciousness.

 

When she opened her eyes she was surprised to learn that she in fact felt nothing at all. She looked down at her surroundings, she was sitting on top of a hospital bed, her right forearm bandaged in a splint and in a sling as blood dried all over her clothes. She rubbed her eyes with her left hand as she looked at Rumpelstiltskin, Belle, Killian and Dr. Whale.

“Nice to have you with us again.” Belle said as she handed her a glass of water.

“How long was I out?” Lucy asked as she took a sip, the water doing nothing to quench her thirst.

“About an hour.”

“Is my arm broken?”

“Your hand is, you have a spiral fracture on the fifth metacarpal.” The Doctor replied. “You’ll have to wear a cast for about-“

“Four weeks.” She finished the sentence for him. “I know the drill.”

He laughed at her “We did x-rays to check of course. Just out of medical curiosity how many times have you broken your arm?"

“Right or left?”

Dr. Whale rolled his eyes. “Wow, that tells me you either have some rare bone disease and should be studied for medical textbooks or just have had an interesting and accident prone life.

She counted on her left hand as her lips moved silently. Rumpelstiltskin smiled to himself. "Right arm nine times now ten, left arm three times.”

“You’re a librarian?” Rumpelstiltskin whispered surprised.

“Maybe I wanted to be like Indiana Jones” She said loudly shaking her head

Killian, a man who had gone hundreds of years with only one hand was looking at her with wide eyes. “Thirteen times, you’ve broken your arms thirteen times?” Killian scoffed.

“Like six or eight of them happened before I was ten years old.” Lucy said brushing him off.

Belle blinked at her. “How did you manage to learn to write then?” She asked curiously.

“Ambidextrous.” She said with a goofy smile on her face as she attempted to wave her fingers. “These are some good pain killers. I could have used them the last time I broke my arm. It was in like seven different places, and I was in the middle of fucking nowhere and everything it took weeks to recover.”

“I think it may be time to leave her for a bit.” Dr. Whale said softly as he moved to the doorway. “You should stay the night and we can put on the cast in the morning.” He added as left he left the room.

Lucy turned and looked at them with a smile as if releasing them all to go. "Belle would you mind taking me home. I don't want to… bother Emma if she managed to go to bed...” Killian said.

She turned and looked at her husband. "Sure. Um…."

"Why don't you go? I'll stay with Darcy for a while longer” Belle nodded giving him a brief kiss before she left with Killian. He had a look of determination in his eyes as he turned back to the injured woman, but she was in no state to notice that he wanted answers to questions.

Lucy was looking at her hands before her eyes swimming with tears on the verge of crying. "Something wrong?" He asked with a kind and gentle voice which even surprised him.

"Ssss…I was little…. my brother said he cut my hands off." She garbled, looking down at her hands with a pout on her face.

"That's not very nice of him." He replied. She was laughing, clearly not very aware of what she was saying.

"He'd show me the hook and everything." She added. Her head snapped up and she looked at him seriously, squinting as if she didn’t have her glasses on in order to see who he was. "I think I'd tell you just about anything right now Rumpelstiltskin."

He had no doubt about it and yet his newly formed conscious was telling him that asking her too much would be an abuse of the situation she was in. "You know I'm really Rumpelstiltskin?" Suddenly, for some reason which he couldn’t quite place, he cared very much about how he treated the woman who was pretending to be Darcy Smith.

"Of course I do." she waved him off as if it was no problem at all. "I'm froms the futures."

"Is your name Grace?" He asked gently.

She snorted. "No. I'm not Grace. Silly, Silly, I'm not Gracie." She said as her head rested against the pillow.

“But you know Grace?” He said as he sat down on the bed and took a hold of her left hand. For some reason only known to her that made her giggle even more.

“Of course I know Gracie she’s my…. My head hurts too much to remember how were related.” She replied looking at him seriously. “How do you know about her, if it’s this time? She won’t be…” She said her words slurred as he asked him.

“Henry saw her in a vision of his own future, he wanted to know about what he would be like as an author, and he saw her and -” He was startled when she had wrapped her good arm around him, leaning into him and holding on as if she was a child. There was an expression of comfort of her face that he had once seen back in the days when son had been little and loved him unconditionally.

“I’ve missed you.” She whispered in a distant voice looking up at him with tears in her eyes.

He was nearly speechless at how this unknown woman was acting towards him. “You don’t know what you’re saying right now the drugs...”

“That’s okay.” She replied with a childish tone. “You’ve always kept my secrets. Taught me everything you know, cause us Slytherin’s gotta stay together.”

She loved him and he couldn’t think of a single reason why she possibly would. He looked down at her, feeling compelled to run a hand through her hair as he whispered words into her ears which he never through he would ever say.

“Darcy, are you my daughter?” She turned to look up into his face, shaking her head. “Do I…. Do Belle and I have children?”

She shook her head once more. “No.” She said softly, feeling sorry for him.

He nodded at her, “That’s probably for the best, I was never a good father.” But he would be someone important to her one day. Whoever she really was, even now he felt the connection between them, a mutual trust found in an uncommon place.

He looked down at her hands, covered in traces of blood, swollen and beginning to bruise. She had broken her arms twelve now thirteen times so far in her short life. And she had yelled to her sisters about not wanting her hand to get chopped off, and her brother teasing her with a hook when she was little...

“But you’re Dad, he’s a much better father than I ever was.” Rumpelstiltskin began, knowing who she was with such clarity. But the path of how they ever became friends still unknown to him. “He surprised me in that right, I knew he was a loyal man deep down, but even I didn’t know that he could be that good of a man.”

“Rumpelstiltskin?” She whispered into his chest so that it vibrated with every syllable she spoke.

“Yes Tens.” He replied not knowing her real name but the bittersweet smile on her fact told him that he had guessed right.

She had never gotten a chance to say goodbye on the night that he died. She had been too occupied with getting Belle into the dungeons bellow and he had never told her of the plan beforehand. It wasn’t untill they were locked up, until she saw the look of Belle’s face that she knew she was never going to see him ever again. He had agreed to do one truly heroic act in his life, and that was to die so that others could live. Did it justify the life he had led up to that point? In her mind and in the mind of many others it did not. But she still wished she had gotten a chance to say something consequential to the man whom she had adored and cherished for sixteen years.

Now as she looked up at him in a drug induced haze, finding it hard to believe that he was there. From the moment she had seen him again in his backyard she had kept her distance. Afraid that she would take advantage of this situation, of being near him again. _But I won’t be around forever and there are some things I need to tell you about how the world works._ It was only now that she had gone back to the past that realized how he had tried to squeeze so many wise lessons into the first sixteen years of her life knowing that was all he would ever get with someone who he would come to love as if she was his own.

She was beginning to cry uncontrollably from the stresses and stimulants which had been in her bloodstream in the past six hours as she sat on the bed like a child wrapped up in the arms of her favorite uncle.  They had done this before, when she had broken her arm the first nine times, and now this would be the last and the first time and somehow they both understood that without having to say anything else.

“Thank you.” She whispered.

He didn’t know what it was explicitly for, but that didn’t matter. “You’re welcome.” He said feeling his heart swell as she snuggled closer to him.

“Now’s the part where you tell me a story.” She giggled.

“Really?” He replied, almost glad that she could not see his face which was grasping with the struggling with how much he could mean to someone someday. “Which one do I normally tell?”

“Normally one with a princess, but I want to hear how you tricked the man on a catamaran.” She laughed.

“That’s a long story.”

“We have time.” She replied softly.

Belle arrived as he finished he story of how he tricked a man who wanted to sail a catamaran that he in fact needed two hulls of different size to produce the best boat. It of course capsized the moment it hit the water, not his best deception but he could see why she liked it so much.

“Hi Belle!” She exclaimed loudly as the woman came into the room.

“Hello.” Belle laughed back at her. She placed her hand on her husband’s shoulder. “It’s nearly two in the morning and we all need our sleep.”

He nodded, he didn’t want to leave the woman who was beginning to fade fast before him. He was afraid that she would wake and forget all about this. “Okay, I’ll meet you outside just… give me a moment.” She left, with a strange expression on her face not saying anything else.

Darcy, Emma Swan and Killian Jones daughter, the woman who he called Tens was sitting upright in the bed, her right arm propped up on a large pile of pillows. He sat down on the bed and leaned in so only she could hear him ask.  “Can you tell me a secret?”

She scrunched her nose. “Maybe, I think it depends.”

“I’m not going to ask you about the day I die or the name of the man who kills me.” He said, besides he already knew the answers to those questions. “It’s not even about me really.”

“Try me then.” She shrugged.          

He leaned in and whispered in her ear. “Is Henry… is he Merlin?” She looked at him and nodded slowly. “Then why didn’t I know before? When I was looking for the magician, the most….”

“Because you couldn’t know when you were still in possession of the power of the Dark One.” She paused, sleep was beginning to take over her body now. “You can’t tell anyone yet, things have to happen in a certain order.”

“That’s all right, your secrets safe with me.” And for once, the man who had made a living selling and extorting secrets meant it. “You and me, it’s a very unlikely friendship.” He added.

She laughed. “Tell me about it.” She closed her eyes, almost giving into the sleep and Rumpelstiltskin knew it was time to leave her. He was afraid she wouldn’t remember these conversations when she regained her senses hours later. That this new friend would be gone, at least for a while, and the Darcy that he knew would keep her distance as she had since he came back into town.

_“It’s strange you’re kind of like my second dad.”_ She had told him promptly when she was eleven.

_“Henry has more than one person who he considers to be his Dad.”_

_“Yeah…. But it’s still strange.”_ She had said with so much wisdom even then.

In time he would meet her in the right order, and she would be the little girl who snuggled up to his chest when she broke her arm, but that was years off. And when it happened he would only have a short amount of time with her.

“Why Tens?” He asked, trying to prolong this moment for as long as possible as if he would never see her again when he knew that he would.

She twitched. “I don’t know, you’ve always called me that.” She replied in a voice laden with sleep.

“Were you born on the 10th?  Were you born in October? Did it start when you were ten?”

She shook her head. “For as long as I can remember you would always call me ten. In all different languages too. Diez, Dix, Dasa, Ti, Yeol, Decem. I don’t why, maybe this is why. ‘Cause I told you now and I created a paradox. But I don’t know.”

“That’s okay.” He whispered as he leaned in and kissed her gently on the forehead, she smiled as she leaned against the pillows. “Go to sleep now Diez.  I’ll see you in the morning.”


	15. Metamorphosis

It was as a normal day. The October sun was beginning to turn into a golden light which seemed to magically only happen as the air turned crisp as the leaves on the trees reliably fell to the ground bellow. It was autumn in the town of Storybrooke and it seemed no different than the autumns which had come and gone before.

But this time it was different. There were three women who made all the difference, three women who in the two months’ time they had come had managed to open up a dozen different portals to different realms and still not find a way back to the future from which they had come. They had brought the possibly of magic back to a town which was beginning to forget about its origins.

The events of the night before had been half forgotten as the sun rose over the town. Caroline had left for work before the sun, still fried from the lack of sleep she had received but spending more of her focus on what she would have to accomplish while sleep deprived that day rather than anything else. Lucy was still in the hospital, and Addison Swan awoke to the sounds of her phone alarm blaring.

She turned in her bed, hating the sound of the alarm that was coming from her phone across the room. One solitary hand arose from her covers and swatted away in the air, as if to shoo away the sound. As if it would do anything in the first place.

The alarm stopped.

Addison sat upright in bed, rationalizing that it was a coincidence, just like the night before. Caroline had joked that she had magic because of what she had done but Addison didn't believe her sister. It was temporary, it was a dream, it was someone else, and those were all the excuses she had, accepting anything but the truth.

But she was smart enough to know that she was denying something that was most possibly true. She stood, rushing over to see if the alarm had just snoozed automatically, but it had been turned off. She looked down at her hands biting her lip as she tried to not get her hopes up. She had been angry the night before, she hadn't thought when she turned the turned the bird back into its original form. She closed her eyes, clearing her mind of all thought.

_Turn the lights on._

She snapped, and when she opened her eyes she saw the light in her bedroom all turned on. Addy ran out into the living room, but she realized as she looked around that Caroline was already gone, and Lucy wasn’t there.

Her hands raised as if she was a conductor of an orchestra and with a singular thought everything in the room was flying around. She giggled and laughed at the juvenile display, realizing that she herself could probably fly too. Her heart soared as her feet lifted off the ground. She flew around the room, creating her own wind as it blew though her short hair. With a thought the furniture was dancing around in the room, bopping back and forth like something out of a cartoon.

She had seen her sisters use magic before, she had seen her mother do it, as well as her brother. But she never knew how much fun it was to make a room dance. She felt unadulterated unexplainable happiness as the magic flowed through her, growing and growing into a crescendo.

She felt like a child, swinging higher and higher pushing the limits until they had reached the point of no return. She was confined only by the physical room she was in as well as the fact that it would be illogical to soar out the window. But she was also willing to damn it all and go for or it, afraid this moment would never come again, that for some strange reason her magic would only last a day

The clock caught her eye.

“Shit.” She muttered as her feet went crashing into the ground. She was already late for work, and in this world everyone else didn’t wait until the Queen had arrived. She was still in her pajamas, she looked down at her clothes and snapped her fingers like she had seen Caroline and Lucy do so many times as they changed into real clothing. Her purse flew into her hands as if she had control of the force, and she ran out of the apartment.

If magic had not been so new to her, and also something which she needed to keep secret in this world she would have poofed down to the docks, but instead she climbed onto her bike and rode as fast as she possibly could.

“Sorry I’m late.” She yelled as she walked as quickly as she could through the ship yard.

Killian turned and looked at her with a small smile, he was clearly amused at her lateness. "After last night I wasn't really expecting you at all." He began softly.

"Oh yeah." She muttered, she didn't want to face the realities of what had happened last night. Standing in the middle of the road, calling after a creature, she hadn't been herself last night. And now she had to deal with the consequences of those actions.

"We should be thanking you since you and your sisters were able to take care of things before the situation got out of control." He said with a smile. "Is Darcy alright?"

Addison nodded. "She's fine, out of it, but she's been through worse."

He laughed, but then turned and looked at her more seriously. "Why did it want you?"

She sighed, Caroline had mentioned something about this when they had got back to the apartment. "I think that maybe it was from our time as well."

He gulped. "You know I've dealt with a lot but this whole time travel things is rather unsettling."

"I know the feeling." She muttered. She bent down picking up a crate and carrying it into the office. He followed behind her, looking at her curiously.

"Do you know me as a dead man or an old man?" She turned and gave him a sly smile. There was no way in which she would ever answer that question for him and they both knew it. "Fine. I just hope that before I die this mystery gets solved."

All she could do was smile at him, rather than tell him anything plainly. "I'll do my best." She whispered. "What would you like me to do today?"

He thought for a moment, clearly running through a mental list before he spoke again. "Are you finished repainting the ship." She shook her head. "Then finish repainting and then come to my house at four for my daughter’s birthday party slash secret victory celebration for those who were there last night."

“But, Caroline was born in the winter.” She muttered, and then it hit her. It was her birthday that was what Caroline had been trying to tell her last night. She was twenty eight she reminded herself. “Aye, Aye, Captain." She replied with a smile before she scuttled off to go and finish repainting the Jolly Roger.

**

Lucy looked down at the cast on her right hand with contempt. She hated having casts where her fingers were immobilized, it made things so much more difficult. Still she had two fingers left on that hand which she was somewhat able to move. She looked down at the bright green cast, almost wishing that she had chosen black instead of the neon color. She got up from the hospital bed, knowing that it was still sticky and damp and would be for some time. She maneuvered her way out into the lobby, cursing at the fact that her phone had nearly died of charge in the night. She missed her own time when phones held there charge for days on end.

"That’s a rather conspicuous color."

She looked into the face of Rumpelstiltskin. "What are you doing here?" she shook her head.

"Someone needs to take you home and I don't see your sisters." He began smiling at her kindly.

"I can manage."  She replied, she had magic she could heal her own broken bones faster than any cast could.

"You have a broken hand."

"I can manage."  She echoed as she walked out of the hospital, aware of him following her.

"So the stubbornness is genetic then." He called out behind her. She turned looking at him like a school marm over the tops of her glasses. "I have a car, I can drive you home."

She took a heaving breath. There was conflict on her face. She had kept her distance from him, not wanting to get pulled into a relationship with him when she knew it could not last, but at the same time she was elated to see him as an adult. Combined their witty remarks were enough to keep them occupied for hours and enough entertainment that they should have found a theater and began selling tickets.

"I'm not an invalid I can take care of myself."

He nodded. "I have no doubt of that Tens, but I think it's going to start raining soon and you can't get that thing wet now can you?"

She looked up at the grey clouds knowing he was right. She followed him, allowing him to open the car door for her, but she quickly put in her own seat belt with a familiar maneuver.

He drove in silence as they entered the main part of town. "Does it hurt?"

"Does what hurt?"

"Your hand."

She shook her head. "No, my hand doesn't hurt." She replied but other things hurt. Things she wasn't going to tell him.  The car stopped and she turned to see his house. "Are you kidnapping me? Because you know I’m not the first born."  She joked dryly as he opened the car door for her, holding an umbrella over her head.

She quickly moved inside the house, finding it oddly different from the one she would come to know in a few years. Walls were more barren, furniture was in the wrong place, it even smelled different than the house she knew.

He gestured for her to sit down on the couch, and she looked up at his face. It was wrought with hesitation and intrigue. "Do you remember...? Our earlier conversations?"  He asked with difficulty.

"Yes" she smiled.

He nodded, still trying to wrap his head around this. "How are you... You said you were from the future last night.... How are you here?"

"No one's explained it to you, have they?" He gave her a small nod. "We were trying to get back to Storybrooke without using the portal in the House of Doors since we were nowhere near it. But something went wrong with the spell and we were sent to Storybrooke in the past."

"How far back in time did you go?"

Lucy wondered if she should really tell him but then again she knew he would keep the secret.  "Twenty five, twenty six years” she replied. She reached in her back pocket and pulled out her phone. "You don't happen to have a charging cord for this piece of ancient technology do you? They run on solar power in my time.” She asked waving it in the air.

He took it from her and returned a few moments later with a wall charger. The phone gave a delightful chirp as it began to charge.

"What's the future like?"

She was surprised that he would want to know. "Well you know flying cars, teleportation and robotic uprising... Are apparently things that will never happen? It's not that much different."

"Do you even, live in this realm?"  He asked kindly. He should have thought about that before he asked her if they were trying to get here it would seem that perhaps they never lived here in the first place.

"I do. My sisters don't." Lucy replied.

"Do you live in Storybrooke?"

Her face scrunched up in concentration. "Sort of.  Before I went back to the forest to help with everything, I had just finished getting my master's degree at Harvard and I was about to go to Cambridge for my doctorate."

He hadn't expected that, she could tell on his face. The knowledge that she was such a well-educated woman, he has expected her to be more reckless with her profession. "A doctorate in what subject?"

"Literature." she chirped

"Are you an author?" He asked curiosity, and she knew what type of an author he meant. With her natural magic powers she could easily be the type of an author that Henry was.

She shook her head. "No. Though it certainly is a possible option for me. It's just never struck me as something I wanted to do with my life. You’d like that wouldn't you? If I became an author manipulating stories, manipulating your story." She didn't mean it vengefully or with any malice, there was a strange harsh truth to her voice.

"I think you would be good at it." He whispered feeling scorched from her gaze. "What's the Storybrooke of the future like then?"

Lucy's head fell back against the cushions as she laughed to herself "There's a lighthouse in the harbor. A big lighthouse with stupid fat red and white stripes."

He snickered, finder her reaction charming "Why are the stripes stupid?"

"I don’t know It makes it look comical, fictional, real lighthouses don't have stripes. But other than that, not much is different. People are different, older, retired or with different jobs. Its twenty five years from now, some changes seem plausible others not so much." she paused, her face falling dark once more as she asked the obvious question.  "Don’t you want to know about your future?"

He blinked at her sadly "I already know how that story ends"

"Oh."  She breathed uncomfortably hiding back tears as she looked at him.

This meant that he knew, that he had always known how he was going to die.  It explained nearly everything. His sudden change in character when he had returned to Storybrooke, his desire to form a relationship with Henry with the time he had left, and his welcoming of Lucy when she was a child. In her earliest days he had been nothing but kind to her when he easily could have turned away, claiming that there really was no relation between them. But he hadn't, he had taken the child who had loved him unconditionally and loved her right back, baffling nearly everyone.

"How long have you know?" she asked tearing up.

"Not long. The pig showed Henry his far off future it showed me my last day alive.  Does that change things in the grand scheme of life? Does the fact that I know how much time I have left in this world change the story what was supposed to happen?"

She shook her head slowly not really knowing what the answer was but knowing that she can makes conclusions of her own "I think it ensures it. I think that knowledge is what is finally going to make you a better man. It will finally let you be the person you want to be; and be the person others want you to be"

"It’s a paradox Tens"

She shook her head "I don't think strictly speaking that it is.  You know one bit of the future you know how one day will end but there's a hundred other little things you don't know and you have no intention of trying to change that day right?"  She asked him praying that he would give her the right answer

"No I don't think I want to change that day."

She nodded. "Then promise me. Promise me whatever happens, whatever you learn. When that day comes for you to die that you do it.  Greet death with open arms and all that happy shit.  Don’t try to change that day, because if you do… I'm not going to be the only person who is disappointed in you."

"I promise."

"Whatever happens, whoever you love you have to leave them behind." she sobbed with difficulty.

A very large part of Lucy wanted him to change that day, if it meant that she got more time with him.  but even though she had the possibility of darkness within her even though it ran in her family lines she had always stayed on the side of her good and even her love and adoration for the man before her could not sway her to convince him to once again take up his own dark deeds.

She wiped at her tears with her good hand. "I think I should go now." She added pulling herself up from the couch he moved to help her but she brushed them away. This wasn't the first time she is broken one of her arms and it likely wasn't going to be the last. She knew what to do she wasn't invalid she was fully capable with one hand to live her own life. She made a point to grab her own phone allowing him only to shelter her from the rain as they got back into the car.

They drove in silence across town neither of them saying anything because they knew that saying anything now would just simply hurt too much.  He had been honest with her, more honest and he’d been with anybody in a very long time. It was hard to be honest with somebody when the image they had in their head was the image of somebody who was heroic.

He knew that the image that was in Lucy's head was not a mirage; she really did know him someone who was courageous, loving and willing to sacrifice himself. He had come back to Storybrooke in the attempt to get to know his grandson.  He did not know that it would be in just a few years' time when he would meet the girl who he would help raise. The girl who would transform him finally after hundreds of years, from the dark twisted remains of a soulless and heartless creature, to a man who would sacrifice himself for the greater wellbeing of those around him.

He helped get into bed not adding anything else as he turns to see the sister who was pretending to be a teacher standing in the door way.

“She texted me.” The woman who he assumed to be Addison muttered as she brushed past him and looked at her sister shaking her head. He looked at her realizing who she was, trying to see the relation. “I have to go back to work soon, it a good thing that Regina knows what actually happened last night. What do you want?” She asked her sister kindly as she helped her into bed.

“I left my book on the kitchen table, the markers should be right by it.” Her arms were stretching out like a child reaching for the high shelf. He reckoned she could probably summon it into her hands if she tried hard enough.

 “It’s a coloring book.” She said with condescension as she stood up and walked right past him all the same grabbing the black and white book and the box of markers none the less. She gave him a small smile as she walked back into the bedroom. She had to be either Caroline or Addison, or maybe some other not yet born sister. It was impossible to tell through the glamor which she was so clearly wearing

“It’s for adults you know.” Darcy was muttering as she took the book and placed it on her lap. “There are really small details and….”

Natalie laughed as she turned around and looked at him, a curious expression on her face as if she was seeing something in him which he could not. “You don’t have to stay Mr. Gold.” She whispered gently her voice murky in her throat as she smiled widely at him.  “She is perfectly capable of taking care of herself, as I am sure she had mentioned to you.” Natalie stood, watching as her sister uncapped a pen with her mouth and began to color with tenacity. “And I’ve been taking care of her all of my life.” She added under her breath as she moved closer to him.

“She’s the youngest in your family isn’t she?” She must had been Addison, he assumed. Caroline was going to turn out to be wild from what he had seen, the women next to him seemed like a calm middle child. She nodded at him.  "How old is she?"

"She’ll be 25 next month."

He didn’t have much time he had left to live, she had been a teenager when he died. That gave him at most eighteen years, the knowledge hit him like a ton of bricks. "I'll see you around town." He breathed as he left suddenly feeling as if there was not enough time in the world for him to become a good man.

**

Emma looked down at her daughter with a small smile. Addison was sitting on the floor of the nursery, babbling to herself as she played with the blocks in front of her. She hadn’t known until she had seen the organized chaos that was her brother’s first birthday party how much of an extravagant affair children’s birthday parties were. Now that Caroline was off in pre-school she understood how much they really were just a way to show off. But still Addison was two, she didn’t comprehend that fact, she wasn’t going to understand why everyone would be smiling and looking down at her in the hours to come.

She was glad that she had the excuse of her daughter’s birthday to take time off of work, to spend time with her youngest daughter. She didn’t really have to get ready for the party, magic could make it easily look like she had spent hours when in reality it was minutes, but it did give her the time to look at her daughter babbling on to herself, her words hardly intelligible. And after the events of the night before she wanted nothing else than to go back to her normal life. A life where she was just a mother and a sheriff and not a savior.

The rate of how much Addison looked like Killian always surprised her. Caroline was a mix of both, she had Emma’s eyes and his expressions but her qualities seemed equality divided. But Addison had the bright blue eyes and the dark mop of hair. Emma knew exactly what she would look like in a few years’ time, Caroline was still a mystery, she could still shift into someone else, but Addison could be recognizable in a crowd.

“Addy how old are you today?” Emma asked as those blue eyes looked up at her with a sparkle in them.

Her small face scrunched. “One?” She said with some hesitation.

Emma shook her head, “No honey you’re two now.” She replied holding up two fingers. She watched her daughter seem unbowed by the news as she remembered the events of two years previous. She had been in labor for twenty hours, she had screamed and cried and nearly broken off both of her husband’s hands. Afterwards when she held her second daughter in her hands she had joked that as traumatizing as Caroline’s entire bringing into the world was, at least it was short.

Caroline had been a ball of energy from the start, Addison was the calmer force. The small eddy at the edge of the river compared to the grand rapids which where her older sister. Even now, when she could no longer be outshine by her older siblings Addison was still quite and calm, her little hands sorting and organizing as if the act calmed her.

The door above slammed and the familiar bark of the dog letter her know that Henry was home. “Mom.” He yelled his feet pounding on the staircase as he came into the room.

She turned to look at him. “Do your homework before the party.”

He rolled his eyes at her “I have all weekend long to do my homework.” He rebutted.

“Oh so you won’t be taking any trips this weekend?” She remarked with a raised brow.

It made her more nervous than she could describe to know that Henry was venturing through the portals with a whole variety of people, but she also knew that she should let him make his own choices and mistakes in the world. He would never go away for more than a day, but still the idea of him being away was too hard to comprehend.

“Well Harris mentioned something about exploring some dragon caves out by the….”

“Not in front of your sister.” Emma interrupted him flatly. It was a strict rule which she had implemented after Caroline was born. So talking about magic and stories as if they were real, even if they were. Because her young brain would not be able to bluff convincingly around others and she had no idea about the true past of Storybrooke.

“You’re the one who brought it up, besides she won’t remember.”

“It’s the principle of the thing.” Emma replied. “If we get in the habit now we won’t be able to stop when she is likely to remember or repeat what we say.”

“Mom.” He sighed deeply in the type of sigh which conveyed her hypocrisy. “Caroline has magic.”

And they were dealing with that bridge when they came to it. Slowly and steadily and probably making all the wrong types of mistakes, but still they were managing with it. He shook his head in silent response to his own statement as he got down on the floor and began to play with his sister. “Hey Addy.” He said as he took a small toy and began to play with it.

“So I take it that the events off last night are handled?” He said as he looked up at her. It had been too busy in the morning to discuss what had really happened.

“Yes they are.” Emma sighed.

“You don’t seem too happy about it?” Henry replied

She didn’t know how to feel about it, other than relieved it was not her problem anymore. There had been a comfort in pretending she was a norm normal person without magic, there had been something nice about meeting people who didn’t know that she was a witch all of the sudden. “Do you miss it?” She asked her son. “The villains and the drama?”

He thought long and hard as he watched his sister scooting about on the floor chasing after the ball which he was rolling towards her. “Sometimes I do.” He replied with a sheepish look on his face.

“That’s perfectly fine Henry.” She replied, not wanting him to feel guilty. “Your young this is when you are supposed to be having adventures.” She paused. He was more perceptive than most sixteen year old but she was still worried that he would not understand her point.

“Society puts this weird pressure on you to go about life in a certain manner. There are societal expectation about what age you should be when you get married, and how long you should have known that person. About when you should have kids and how many is okay. You don’t want to have an only child because that apparently scars them for life, but any more than three is excessive. You know that my life does not fit that societal norm at all. I’m okay with that. But these new people who come to town, Priya’s family, and the others. I know the sort of things they say behind my back, that judge me because I had you when I was eighteen and then gave up for adoption only to come back into your life. But I also know that they look at my life now, married with two kids and dog and a nice house and then think, well she finally got her life together. As if that’s the only option. Sometimes even I think that, I think that this is what I could be satisfied with for the rest of my life. If I never heard the curse muttered ever again I would be content with the life I have here.

“But last night, that life. The life of the way things were before the barrier came down, came back. I couldn’t drop everything and go be a hero like it used to because I had two toddlers who couldn’t be left alone. Luckily you were here so both Killian and I could go but… David had to stay behind and so did Robin. If this is just the beginning, if this is going to keep happening and we going to have to set up some sort of rotation of who stays behind and watches the kids when we go off into battle? Because if that’s the way it is going to be, I don’t know if I want to do that. Yes the town of, Storybrooke is, safe for now, but what is going to happening the next time?”

“We’ll deal with it.” Henry smiled like we always have before.

“Yes, but the thought of adventure again. Only fills me with worry.” Emma confessed as she looked at her children. It was a mothers worries, they were no less valid than any other thoughts or concerns she had ever had, but the intensity of them terrified her. Henry craved adventure, she had no doubt that in time her other children would as well. And there was nothing she could do about that, rather than try and keep them as well prepared and safe as possible.

**

She walked up the stairs of the apartment building trying to wrap her head around the idea that she had just been invited to her own birthday party. She had sent the text off to her two sisters but had yet to hear any response back to them. Still she had some time before the party began and Addison was dying to get some privacy in which she could test the new powers which had been revealed to her that morning.

Suddenly it was as if the world was in color. Childhood memories were beginning to make more sense. Moments which had seemed random before suddenly had a purpose, it was as if this knowledge about herself had been hidden for so very long, and now she had finally realized it. The light bulb had gone off in her brain and the world was in color.

She remembered the sensation from childhood, she had been five or six when her mother had explained Mulan and Merida to her.

“When I grow up I want to live with my best friend like Mulan does.”  She had been sitting in the back of the car as her mother drove down Peach Street. She could still remember what house they passed by as she said it.

 "Honey, Mulan and Merida aren’t best friends. They're married like Daddy and I."

Just like that, they’re married she had no trouble or prejudice in grasping the subject. "Can boys marry each other?" She asked curiously as if it was a gender specific thing

"Yes they can." Her mother had replied.

"Do they love each other?"

She still remembered the pride smile on her mother’s face as she looked at her through the rearview mirror. "You only marry someone who you love Addy." Emma has replied. "But some girls like boys and some girls like other girls, and some boys like boys."

"Oh, okay." she had remembered replying as they passed a particularly large white and blue house, her world view had become more colorful that day, even though it was hard for her to see at the time.

She had never liked boys. Something which she had learned was always okay. But still having a crush in those late elementary school years had never been easy since most of the girls who she madly liked were only interested in boys. She had a few close friendships which almost turned into something else, but it still wasn't until High School when she finally found another girl who liked her back. Then of course the logistics of being a newly appointed Queen in another world got in the way. But it was easier to find someone else when she had been a Queen, when she could loudly declare that she had no intention of ever marrying a prince because she simply did not like men.

She had two real relationships before she had meet Olivia. But she had known early on in that relationship that this was someone who she loved rather than liked.

But unlike her relationship with Olivia, Addison was terrified that her magic was a one day only sort of thing. But still she could do the simplest little things could be done with a wave of her hands and she had to fight the urge to do so. For years she had watched Caroline, Lucy and Henry use magic to their advantage, now it was her turn and she was itching to see what she could produce if she tried hard enough.

The keys jangled into the door knob as she unlocked the door, her purse shifting down on her shoulder as it slid down her arm. She groaned in irritation as she opened the door and crossed the threshold, tripping as her feet stumbled upon something on the door mat.

Cursing to herself a whole variety of colorful words fit only for the queen of pirates she bent down to look at the long rectangular box wrapped in brown paper. She took it in her hands, as she closed the door behind her and looked at it suspiciously. There was a small scrap of paper folded over as if to mark a recipient. Only her sisters knew that this was her birthday, and plain wrapped packages didn’t seem to be either of their style. She opened up the small card, to see a single letter A written in calligraphy her mind taken over by the scratchy sounds of the old record which she knew by heart playing from the other room.

_I want to be like that other tropllop, the Lorelai._

"How many times can you listen to Ella in Berlin before it gets old?" Addison asked her curiosity peaked she sat down on the couch and unwrapped the paper to reveal a slender black box.

 Lucy giggled in the other room. "Ella in Berlin never gets old" she replied.

Addison ignored her. Fear flew to her mind as she wondered who could be the sender of such a package, fear and the knowledge of a dozen different types of curses which seemed to have been delivered in such a manner. Yet still she had a strong sense that if something were to go wrong her newfound magic would somehow protect her. She opened the box, and looked at what lay inside.

A pair of shears, silver in color and plain in adornment. She looked at the scissors wondering what they could possibly be, let alone be from.

_“_ Strangest gag gift ever.” She yelled at Lucy who was still bedridden in the other room.

“What the fuck, we don’t do gag gifts”Lucy yelled back a moment later, Addison was still looking at the scissors. They were plain, boring, unassuming and yet she felt strangely drawn to them.

She stood up and walked to the doorway of the bedroom which the two girls shared. There was a clear line between which side of the room was Addison and which belonged to Lucy. It wasn’t a physical line, but rather the division between the piles and piles of chaos which belonged to Lucy and the neat and orderly systemized Addison. “Then who the hell left a pair of scissors on the doorstep wrapped up and labeled for A?” She said as she held them up for Lucy to see.

“I don’t know, Caroline?” She scoffed as she gestured for Addison to come over to her. Lucy took the scissors in her hand examining them as Addison sent a text off to Caroline. It was a possibility, but it seemed slim. Lucy was the one who liked to play jokes, who liked to make the world a little more complicated. Caroline was more bombastic in her demeanor.

_Did you gift me a pair of scissors?_

Caroline took forever to respond, Addison assumed that perhaps she was still teaching classes but then she remembered that school had gotten out half an hour ago.

Addison rolled her eyes. Caroline seemed suited to the life of a medieval Knight when all she could manage were one word text responses.

_Are you sure, because they were sitting wrapped up on the door step labeled to A.? And it wasn’t Lucy._

_It wasn’t me._

_Are you going to the birthday party, my birthday party, and my second birthday party that it?_

_Are you coming home first, or will I see you there._

_See you there._

Addison threw aside her phone in frustration as she looked the scissors in her sister’s hand once more.

“They’re nice scissors.”  Lucy said as she handed them back to her, picking up a pen and drawing over her cast. “But I don’t know why someone would give them to you, only Caroline and I know it’s your birthday.”

 It was a mystery which would need to be solved at another time. “Are you going to the party?”

Lucy laughed. “If only for potentially hilarious blackmailing opportunities which may arise.”

Addison stood up, knowing that she was referring to a much mocked video taken on their third birthday. “I don’t know if you’ll find what you are looking for.” She muttered as she heading to her closest wondering what was appropriate for a two year old birthday party. She was halfway across the room before she realized that she didn’t even need to open the closet door in order to change her clothes.

With a snap of her fingers she had changed into sometime more comfortable than the salt in crusted clothes which she worked at the docks with.

“At least you’re getting the hang of that.” Lucy said as she heaved herself from the bed and did the same. “Next you’ll have to master the poof of appearing and disappearing, or as I choose to use Harry Potter terms _apparation_.” She rubbed her hands together as she laughed. “Oh cue the 80’s training montage.” She laughed.

“Come on.” Addison said as she dragged Lucy out by her good arm. “We either leave now with David and Neal or we are walking.” She said as they both left the apartment, leaving the scissors in their shared bedroom.

**

"Happy Birthday." Caroline whispered into her sister’s ear as she slipped a bottle of beer into her hands.

A small breath escaped Addison as she took a long drag from the bottle. It was strange how much time had really passed since they had gone back in time. There were days when she accepted it, when she knew that it was a reality which they may never leave. But then there were some moments like today when she wanted so badly to go back to her own time.

She was twenty eight years old, and nobody knew that this was her birthday. Nobody cared other than her sisters, she was grateful that she had them that she was not in this all alone.

"Do you want me to try and find some fireworks to make you feel at home?" Caroline asked sarcastically. That was what the always did at the place, she wondered if Olivia was overlooking the fireworks on the lake right now, off in the far distant future as they celebrated the birth of a Queen who had disappeared. The vanishing Queen, she wondered if they would one day come to call her that.

"No, thank you." Addison whispered with a small smile. Her hands felt warm, still tingling with the magic which had awoken inside of her.

"Are you sure your majesty." She replied in a drawn out voice.

She knocked into her older sister very gently. "I'm not the King of England." She said shaking her head. She took another sip of the beer, the alcohol making her feel somewhat dizzy for a small moment as she looked around the children's party. This was a birthday celebrations in her honor and yet she stood in the shadows, conflicted by the very fluid nature of what time had become to her. She felt alone in this time period, if nothing she felt as if she was staring down at her life, an observer on the times she never remembered. "I have magic." She whispered, her words not falling far into the ears of Caroline who looked at her aghast. A small smile fell across the Queen's face. "I have magic." She repeated joyfully.

"I know.” Caroline said proudly.

“I want to shout it from the roof tops but I can’t. Maybe that explains your teenaged years.” She laughed.”

“Don’t get cocky, Luce and I have fifty five years of combined experience on you.” She said elbowing her gently. “Seriously we will need to brush up your skills significantly.”

Addison rolled her eyes, she had expected nothing less. “You are going to enjoy this far too much aren’t you?”

“I would pay a large amount of money to see you struggle at something.” She took a longs sip of her beer.

Addison said nothing as they looked out at the strange crowd, wondering what they really were doing there. If anything they had been invited so that those who were concerned could still keep their eyes on them, and they were very aware of the fact as they stuck to the edges of the room.

“You really didn’t give me those shears?” Addison whispered into her sister’s ear.

Caroline shook her head. “No I didn’t, and I don’t know who did. It’s a mystery then. Just another thing we will have to try and solve while we are here.”

“What could it mean?”

Caroline rolled her eyes. “It’s probably nothing, so stop worrying about it. Or you won’t get the adult birthday party which Luce and I arranged for after this.” She laughed, but she knew her sister was right. There was no point in worrying about something which she could not control.

Lucy saddled up to them her arm still in a sling her face looking like she had been run over.

“How’s the post heroics going for you?” Addison asked with a sly smile

Lucy shook her head. “Uh.” She said as she took a sip of beer.

“Hey you shouldn’t be drinking if you are on painkillers.” Mary Margaret said as she took the bottle from her hands.

Lucy’s hands reached out like a child’s. “But…. Nature’s painkillers.” She sobbed through her laughter.

Even Mary Margaret found it funny as she looked at the three sisters with a more serious expression. “Thank you, for what you did last night.” She nodded slightly as she said it. “It was quite something.”

Caroline shrugged. “Yeah well it’s what we do,”

“No really it was… something to behold.” She turned and looked at Addison who was blushing. She was far too humble to own up to her own heroic actions, she always had been. They were only retold in the colorful telling of others never herself. “It called you a queen, but she said you were a pirate.”

Addison smiled as she remembered having this conversation once before with Mary Margaret. “Can’t a girl be both?”

“A pirate queen.” She muttered with a smile. “Tell me what came first, the Queen or the Pirate.”

“Queen.” She replied honestly.

Her eyes widened. “A queen who became a pirate that must be a good story.” Across the patio someone called out her name. “But for another time, excuse me.” She added as she walked away.

“Come on.” Caroline whispered in her ear. “Let’s get out of here before anyone else notices us. As the disappeared into the night.


	16. Lessons

_Storybook, 2017_

Henry looked at the door in front of him and then back to the three boys next to him who were smiling widely. "Are you sure about this?" He whispered as he looked at the triplets.

Harris scoffed at him. "It's not like we're going into the unknown." He began his voice dripping with sarcasm. "We grew up there.”

 _Yes_ , Henry wanted to reply _but there is also a good reason which you are not back in those lands_. In the time since the mansion had been renamed the House of Doors, many had begun to seek out the lands in which they had once lived, only to find things had greatly changed. In the case of the Highlands which the triplets had come from, the lands had become infested with hoards of dragons who were slowly taking over the land and leaving nowhere for the citizens of the clans to live.

"In and out right?" Henry asked. He liked traveling to the other lands, but he didn’t like the idea of traveling into a war zone.

Hamish smiled. "Of course, we'll only be a few hours." He replied as he took a hold of the door knob. "Don't you want to see some dragons?"

Henry didn't reply as the door opened, he could not imagine a time in which the answer to that question would ever be a no. He could already feel the breeze from the other world as he looked out into the grassy plains in front of him. He smiled at the triplets before taking a step into their world.

The winds seemed to howl though the grasses echoed only by the cries of unseen dragons. They were up on a hill, a village nestled down in a valley bellow with only dark mountains rising like monstrous monoliths behind them.

"Where is Merida?" Henry asked his voice higher in uncertainly as he looked up at the dark skies. But the three other teens were beginning to run quickly down the sloping hills towards the valley leaving him behind. Their sister had come through weeks ago in order to try and save her homelands. He followed after them enjoying the sensation of being so careless and youthful as he pushed away his worries.

The village was in sight when he heard the first blast. The bone rattling primal cry seemed to echo though the very mountains themselves as it repeated two more time. Henry stopped in his tracks, not knowing what it meant as he turned and saw fear on the triplet’s faces.

His eyes turned upwards as he saw the shadow of a large dragon forming overhead. He looked around wildly, realizing how very stupid it now was to be standing in the middle of an open field when dragons were afoot. There was no place for him to hide as he stood frozen in terror unsure of what to do. He came from a long line of heroes and villains and yet in this moment there seemed to be nothing he could do for himself.

He looked up at the dragon, a sickly dark color with a long body and yellow eyes. Perhaps he could ration with the thing he thought as he raised his hands over his head. He could hear the triplets shouting out after him in the distance, their cries feeble and desperate and they were soon covered by another sound.

Hooves, thudding upon the ground; increasing in velocity as he turned and saw a group of riders approaching. Ten in all they were all surrounding the boys instinctively as they each raised their bows to the sky, sending arrows glowing with white magic into the sky towards the dragon.

"What the hell are you doing here this is no place for children?" Came the voice of one of the archers as she approached them, her green hood falling as she looked up to the sky. Henry looked at her lined face, scowling at them as her short blonde curls blew into her eyes, but her face was not the most interesting thing about her. Henry watched as her left hand raised her bow high into the air, a swift silver hand reaching up and pulling the bow string and releasing the arrow. It was not a hand covered in armor, it was a hand literally made of silver.  Her gentle silver forearm reached down and pulled Henry onto her horse. She turned briefly to see the other teenagers being helped onto horses by Mulan and Merida before she kicked it and sent them racing across the grasses towards the mountains.

He looked at her arms holding the reins of the horse as he clung onto her tightly. They were covered in tattoos, sleeves of dark black ink drawn into shapes and images which grew and leaped together some bolder than others. Her left hand was covered with swirls and images, her right arm was covered in vector lines, encircling around her arm at increasing intervals as they traveled down the length to where the silver elbow met with her flesh. From the elbow down her hand was made of a shining silver metal, still marked with the tattoos. The false arm seemed hard and yet when he had grasped it, it had felt like flesh and he watched as her fingers moved fluidly he wondered what Killian would have said if he could have seen such a thing, he probably would have been jealous.

They were riding quickly towards the mountains, a small opening becoming apparent as he saw the riders ahead flank it. Henry rode into the dark cave with the woman and the rest of the riders. They stopped in a large and cavernous room which had been made into a makeshift stable. He was pulled of the horse by the woman who looked at him with a scold which would not have been out of place on Emma's face.

"What on earth possessed you to go out into the middle of an open field, in the middle of the day when there were dragons around?"

Henry opened his mouth to speak, but he realized that he did not have any good answers for her. "We were looking for my sister." Hebert replied as he slid off the horse which had taken him. "Merida."

Merida laughed as she pushed her long mane of curly hair back as she looked at her brothers, finding their stupidity both entertaining and worrisome. “’Cause I told you to come through at any time didn’t I?” She asked rhetorically.

“Can you let us see some more dragons?” Harris asked with a smile.

"No." She replied firmly. "It will be dangerous enough to get you back to the doorway once night falls."

Harris began to protest, he had expected more than sitting around and waiting in a cave when he came back to his homeland. But his sister was not listening to him as she continued down the pathways of the cave, leading them past small trickling waterfalls and opening up to the sky untill they came to an area which had been made into a proper camp.

Merida pulled her brothers into a corner scolding them loudly as Mulan watched with a snicker on her face, but Henry was more interested with the woman with only one had.

"What happened to your arm?" Henry asked impolitely as he watched her sit down on a stool, pulling up the leg of her pants to reveal a dark burn which to him looked infected.

She smiled at him as another woman began to treat the wound. "I met a man in Wonderland who wanted to take it with him as a souvenir to the other side. I let the poor fellow. It only seemed fair, I had put him through hell." She replied as she made a silly face to the small child who was strapped onto the back of the healer and the other toddler who was nipping at her skirts. Neither children looked to be related to her and yet they clung to her as a dear nurse.

"Honestly." The healer chuckled to herself. "I wouldn't be surprised if you end up losing all your limbs."

The one armed woman rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the vote of confidence C." She pulled the little boy closer to her, his dark hands pulling gently at the shining gold chain around her neck and the small pearl which hung from it. He grasped on so tight Henry was afraid he would pull the thing off, but she did not seemed bothered. It seemed like a fancy thing for a warrior to wear.

"How did you get a new arm?" Henry replied.

She smiled at him, wiggling the silver fingers which shone in the dim light of the cave. "I made it." She replied with a smile.

He was almost a bit speechless, unable to comprehend how she would have even been able to make something like that. "Are you from the Highlands?" He managed to ask, she didn't have the same accent as the rest of them when she talked.

She shook her head. "No, I'm just passing through helping out where I can." She replied.

"Ida." She turned as some called the name. A tartan clad member of one of the tribes was approaching her with a grimace on his face. "That dragon will be back now that it knows that people will venture out into the fields. When you're ready we ride out again and push it back past the line."

Ida stood, wincing as she did so, the pain glimmering of her face for only a moment. She turned and looked at Henry with a smile. "I know the three wild things are, but who are you?"

"Henry Mills."

She gave a small nod. "Well then Henry Mills you have until sundown to explore these caves, try not to get lost." She winked at him as she moved more quickly than he had expected back towards the stables. “It’s time to go girls.” She replied as Merida and Mulan joined her ranks.

Henry was curious as what they could do to possibly stop a dragon, but as much as he was tempted to follow after them he also knew that he had little skills to help them. The caves were dark and twisted, so narrow they had to continue single file in most places as they went up and down and up and down in twisting circles. Occasionally there would be bright patches of light, crystals which glowed and glittered as the ran like blood vessels through the rocks, or even tiny streams of sunlight from craigs in the rocks high above. They triplets were in the lead, torches in their hands as they ran on ahead, calling out in loud voices enjoying the sounds of the echoes.

"Have you meet her before?" Henry called out as they came upon a collection of stalagmites which rose from the ground like vicious spears.

"Meet who?" and it rang out in the cave. 'ooo,ooo,ooo.’

"That Ida woman, the one with only one hand." Henry replied somewhat annoyed. He wondered if they were ever going to take anything serious, he found it unlikely.

"No." Called out Hamish. "But then a lot of people have been passing through, posing as dragon experts in order to help out. Merida says she actually seems to know how to deal with dragons. Why?"

He couldn't put his finger on it, there was use something about her. "We should get back, it's been at least two hours." He replied, suddenly minding that he was the responsible one. It had never bothered him much before, but there were days in which he often dreamt of being irresponsible.

The woman names Ida was standing waiting from them when they came back into the main cave, a grin on her face. "Well, well, well, someone's in trouble." She laughed as she led them out back to the horses. Henry pointing at the boys and she shook her head. He felt a sudden wave of guilt as he rode out into the night, fearing that it would be Regina standing in front of the doorway with her arms crossed.

He was shocked when it wasn't her.

"Rumpelstiltskin." Ida replied as she saw the man who was looking at Henry with a disapproving frown.

Henry watched as his grandfather looked at Ida before him a frown on his face.  She was looking at him with a laugh half frozen on her face, waiting from him to respond.  His eyes darted from the armor which she was wearing and the delicate necklace around her neck.

"Yeol." He replied sternly, a smile coming across his face as her saw the silver arm.

She giggled. “You had me going there for a moment.”

He shook his head almost in disbelief as he was wagging a finger to scold her. "You’re father must be proud.”

She laughed her head tilting back to the heavens. "Send my best to Belle." She said her voice dripping with sarcasm as she raised her eyebrows.

"Princess Ida." The archer turned as two more riders came approaching on horseback. One a man native to the Highlands as marked by the clothes he wore, he continued to speak as the woman on a white horse next to them looked at Lawrence with a cold gaze. "There are two creatures approaching from the east, I fear they may hit the village."

"Oh course,” She nodded as she pulled away “Why can't it be the age of the dragon riders yet" She muttered to herself "We should be on our way." She replied loudly to the newcomers turning and beginning to walk towards them with long purposeful steps.

Rumpelstiltskin looked at the dark haired woman on the horse. "Not today." He said gently

Her head bowed in a nod. "As you wish." She replied as she pulled at the reins of her horse riding off away from them.

"How do you know Ida?" Henry asked his grandfather as they headed back to the portal and stepped back into the mansion. He looked at his watching realizing that he had been gone five hours in total. He was beginning to be relieved that it had not been Regina or Ava to come and get him.

He gave a small nod. "She's a witch Henry, a rather fierce one at that.

"But how do you know her? She's too young for you to have known her-“

He looked up and saw the looked of realization dawning upon the older man’s face. It was a look which he had once worn when he came up with a clever plan, now it was an expression when wore when he finally put all the puzzle pieces together. "She's not bound by time, she can manipulate it to appear in whatever time she is needed. In fact…we've meet many a time before now." He replied with a fond smile.

"Well." Henry whispered. "You learn something new every day don't you?"

**

There was frost covering the forest floor as the three sisters stood out in the clearing on the cold autumn morning. Addison could feel her hands beginning to harden as they turned numb in the cold. They were each wearing warm coats, scarves and hats but their hands were bare against the elements. Yet Addison wished that there was something she could do to make the sensation better. To make all of this better, but she knew that her exposed hands were what was needed if she was going to manage to do anything with her magic. She had only been a witch for a less than a week, and yet still was struggling.

In addition to the chilling weather she was frustrated. If she had been in the Enchanted Forest things would have been so different. There would have been books and advisors, Henry would be here to help her grasp an understand of the powers which she was beginning to feel. But all she had was Caroline and Lucy, she was grateful for her sisters but both of them had been dealing with the ability to possess magic since a young age. But for Addison, it was suddenly as if her knowledge of all in the world had been upturned. Suddenly one plus one could equal five different sums and it was up to her to know which one. Struggling with her learning was never something which Addison had to deal with in the past. She could see a problem, learn about some new pattern or sequence and she simply learned it, she never had to ask why or more importantly how.

But this was all different, this was a skill which she had sat back and admired for years, knowing it would never be hers, and now that it was she was struggling to grasp it and her sisters were lapping it up.

"Lucy" Addison said shortly as she looked at her little sister, she was holding up the rock in midair, her face contoured as she struggled to keep it elevated. It felt as if a string was breaking inside of her as it fell down to the ground, a loud crack as it broke the thin layer of ice.

"Oh I'm sorry, that's not the name which I have asked you to call me." Lucy shot back at her, a mocking look on her face.

Addison rolled her eyes but indulged her otherwise "Alright then… Professor Dumbledore I need help."

Caroline let out a small laugh. She enjoyed seeing her little sister fail at something, Addison who always been the one who is done her best. She had been the one who got the best grades, the one who was a queen. But to see her fail, to see her struggle Caroline wished she could frame the moment forever.

"Do or do not there is no try.” Caroline said in a strange voice.

"Oh geezzz now you're Yoda." Addison yelled in a huff. "And Dumbledore was a man." She said shooting a pointed glance at her sister.

"He had a sister" Lucy balked

"And if you're not careful you're going to end up like Dumbledore’s sister." She snapped in a dark voice.

“Whoa, low blow.” Lucy shouted as she took a step back to stand shoulder to shoulder with Caroline.

Caroline watched as Addison turned her attention back to the rock, closing her eyes as she raised her hands. It looked rather ridiculous, watching as her face contorted in deep concentration. It made Caroline wonder if that was what she looked like when she was performing magic as well. She assumed half as much, but she said nothing. If Addison was, well Addison, in two weeks’ time she would likely be able to out charm them all. And yet Caroline felt some small twinge of doubt at that theory as she watched the stream of sparks gently flow from her sister’s hands.

Caroline’s magic was bombastic, wild and unfiltered, it made sense given who she was. Conceived of dark magic, given life by the power of love, she was like water and oil in a flying pan on high heat. The world crackled and fizzed around her to the point of explosion untill it finally subsided, but there was always that spark.

Lucy was a scholar, who was fascinated in view magic from both sides. She saw the study of both dark and light magic as something highly valuable. She knew of its greatness and weakness and ultimately she had chosen to be a in a land where there was no magic. She was humble about her abilities, never one to boasts about what she could do, never one to show off. Her personality was wild but she was never reckless about the powers she had. Lucy could achieve greatness, but she would do so under the cover of night and choose to be immortalized more as a myth than a real woman.

But for Addison, this was just another feather in her cap. Another achievement to be tacked onto the long list of what she was capable of. She had been the Queen of Two realms for over a decade, she had led tools into battle, she was known as fair and just, and yet merciless when she needed to be. For her having magic was just another skill on a resume, and yet her lack of it had been what had always set her apart in their family.

Addison had the stone up in the air again, a look of slight relaxation on her face as it spun in midair before she gently placed it down. Lucy looked up at her with a smile. “Good job.” She commented. “Now….” She paused, pulling out her phone which was loudly vibrating. “Heeeyyyy…. We got restricted library access, this will have to wait?”

Lucy pulled on a set of gloves, Addy doing the same with a small sigh of relief as the youngest walked through the forest back to the trail head. “What are you talking about?” Caroline called out, her voice echoing off the emptiness of the world around them.

Lucy’s head snapped around. “I’ve been asking Belle if there was a time in which we could go into the library basement and look though the all the quarantined spell books.”

“You think that will help.” Addison added as they approached the small parking lot where their car was parked.

“I don’t think it will hurt, I mean I think we will be supervised by Belle….” Lucy said as they got into the car. “Besides now that we all have magic, who knows what is possible.”

They drove in silence, the town nearly empty in the early hours of the weekend morning when only those who needed to be awake were. Belle was waiting for them by the library doors, looking back and forth nervously as if she were to get in trouble as they arrived.

She smiled at them, not saying anything as she unlocked the doors and let them into the library, turning on the lights behind them. “It’s all in the basement.” She added, showing them the doors. “It’s not all in English, and there are some books which I don’t understand.”

“That’s okay.” Caroline whispered as they walked down the narrow starts to the basement, seeing the boxes of books which she had laid out. “We brought our own lover of dead languages with us.” She said pointing to the youngest sister.

“You can have till we open, then I would like you to leave.” She paused as the three sisters formed around the books. “I’ll go make some coffee.” She said with an award smile as she shuffled away.

Lucy looked at the boxes of books which were covered with dust. Clearly they were not only kept in the basement but also likely hidden down her as well. Silently she choose a pile and began to tackle it, her sisters following her lead wordlessly.

They worked in relative silence, the only sounds the turning of heavy pages as they skimmed the large spell books looking for anything which might help them. There were ways which were tried and true, several dozen varieties of how to create a portal, but nothing with the much needed time element which they were so very much missing.

"You know we could travel to another realm, get one of these artifacts which is said to open up a realm." Lucy said breaking the silence. Hats, stones, there were a dozen different simple things which were said to open up a portal to the right person.

Caroline rolled her eyes dully. "Yes because a quest inside of a quest, Quest-ception if you will, sounds like so much fun."

“We know where we want to go. It’s the matter of when?” Addison added.

“Well how did you go back in time in the first place?” Belle asked them.

They looked at one another. “We don’t know. The spell which we used, I’ve done it a hundred times before.” Caroline began “And it has never once failed me.”

“What if this is it.” Belle whispered. “What if you are meant to stay here and live out the rest of your days until the day in which you left passes?”

They looked at one another, it had been an unspoken possibility since the moment they realized they were stuck in the Storybrooke past. But each of them had so much to strive for back in their own time, so many loved ones which they were not willing to place behind them.

“Yep no, definitely not happening.” Addison said as she reached across the table and picked up another volume on dark magic.

“I’ve got a baby to get back to.” Caroline added as she took another equally dark book.

Belle looked at them with a small giggle. They seemed so determined, she wondered what had caused their recent burst of motivation. It had been only yesterday when the youngest one had asked her about where all the old spell books which once sat on the library shelves had been kept. She wondered what had changed, what had light a fire underneath them.

She had lived much of her life in the presence of very dark magic, she knew its limits, what it was capable of. She knew that it could tear lovers apart, bring back the dead, cause a wide variety of curses, and she also knew the other side of what whiter magic looked against it. Perhaps they were looking in the wrong place, Reading books when they should be asking people. “What if you need dark magic, to get back to your time?”

She was surprised when they looked at her with little hesitation. “Then we need dark magic.” Caroline replied with a shrug of her shoulders.  “We’ll all flirted with the dark side before.” She added in a small whisper.

Belle’s face scrunched. “Who are you?” She asked them shaking her head.

“It’s not that were bad people.” Addison replied. “But…. We just…. We were always raised to believe that sometimes even the worst of people can change for the better. That sometimes you make a bad decisions, or even a string of bad decisions and that you shouldn’t be judge someone based on a small sampling of their actions.”

“Hey can I see those scissors.” Lucy replied lighthearted as she looked at Addison. Belle seemed rattled but she still stood there watching Addison pull the scissors out and place them on the table.

“Not today.” Belle whispered almost instinctually.

Addison head snapped up as she looked at Belle. “Why did you say that?” She demanded too sharply.

Belle shook her head in reverie. “I don’t… it’s something Rumple would always say, back then…..”

Addison held up the silver scissors. “Have you seen these before?”

“Yes.” She whispered as she looked at it in Addison’s hands. “There was a woman who came to speak with him. She was one of the few people who he ever seemed to be frightened of. It was like there was a buzzing around her, like a thousand flies crying out, and the strangest smell trailed in her presence…”

“What did she look like?” Addison whispered fearing an answer.

“Pale skin, black hair.” She paused “She was from the Eastern realms, you could say she looked Asian.” Relief washed over Addison, and she wondered why she felt relieved. “Where did you get that?” Belle asked.

“I found it.” Addison whispered, and suddenly the whole room as just become the two of them and the scissors themselves. “Is it possible that Rumpelstiltskin may have taken them from her or…..”

Belle shook her head. “I told you he was terrified of her, he would have never taken anything from her.” She added, so very such that whoever this woman had been she really was so terrifying that he would never steal a source of power from her. Considering every story they had ever heard about the man this seemed to be significantly different from his usual MO.

“Then how did it get here, and who gave it to her?” Lucy asked.

“I don’t... I don’t know.” Belle stammered, trying to comprehend. “I need you to go… the library is opening soon.” She replied slowly.

The sisters stood, leaving the books lying on the table as they left the library and stepped outside.

“We scared her.” Lucy whispered as they walked towards their car once more.

“I know…. But…. When it comes down to it…. I’m willing to do anything to get back, aren’t you?” Caroline asked.

“Yes, Yes I am.” Addison replied.

Lucy took a step back an idea coming across her brain. She pulled out and tossed the car keys to Caroline. “Why don’t you too um…. Just take the car. I’m going to go for a walk.” She said gently.

“Okay.” Caroline said as she got into the car. “See you at home.” She said somewhat unnerved. “She can be so weird sometimes.” She added to Addison as they pulled away from the curb.

**

“Hello.” Lucy called out as she opened the door to the shop. It was just as dark and filled with treasures as she had remembered it when she was a child. Every object had a story, and she knew most of the stories of the things that were in this room at the very moment. But there were some which she had never seen before. And so she peered over in the counters looking the objects which she had never seen before.

She heard him coming before he managed to say anything to her. “I think I scared your wife off, sorry about that.” She said as she looked at the familiar jewelry which seemed to always be there.

“Shouldn’t your arm be in a cast?”

“That was like a week ago.” She scoffed “Plus, magic.” She giggled.

“You can’t magic everything.” He replied darkly.

“No.” she agreed “But most things.” She said lightly, as she tapped at the glass with her long fingernails.

He winced. “Please tell me that was not the philosophy you were raised with?”

She shook her head. “I’m messing with you.”

He was looking at her curiously. Half wondering why she was here, if she wanted something from him. He was looking at these woman before him, half a mystery in his eyes.  “Do you remember what you said to me the other night?” He whispered, still surprising himself with how much he really cared about the type of relationship he had with the girl.

She looked at him over the frames of her glasses. “Yes.” She replied with a wicked smile. “Come on it’s a nice day, probably the last one till spring. So let’s go out by the water and talk.”

 “Do you think that’s a good idea, I mean your fa-” He hadn’t thought about what he had said, he looked up at her shinning happy face as he stopped mid-sentence.

She gasped humorously as she pointed at him. “I thought I was so careful, I mean I haven’t even been born yet... How did you figure it out?”

“Your hand.” She looked at him surprised “You didn’t want to lose your hand, and you said your brother used to tease you with a hook. You’re Emma and Killian’s youngest daughter. The other two are… which one is Caroline and which one is Addison?” He asked, unable to tell the difference.

“I’m not telling you that.” She laughed. “So now we have to go out, mister you chopped off my Dad’s hand.”

“He got it back in the end.” He shot back at her with a laugh as she lead the way out of the shop and out onto Main Street.

They were silent until they sat down on a bench, overlooking the marina and the large ship which was out sailing on it. They both recognized the Jolly Roger, but neither of them mentioned that fact.

“Just because you know who I am….” Lucy began as they sat down on a bench and looked out over the ocean. “You won’t say anything will you?”

He shook his head at her. The trust she had in him was almost unbelievable. He wondered what he had really been to her in the years to come. How had the youngest Swan daughter taken to him to the point where she looked up at him as if he was a favorite uncle? He had always been a calloused and unloving man, but how would he be able to form any sort of bond with her before his time was up.

“Of course I won’t.” He replied. But he was hoping that she would provide some answers to his curiosity in telling him how they began such a friendship at what he could only assume was against the will of her parents.

He was about to attempt to ask when Lucy opened her mouth. “He likes traveling.” Lucy whispered into the wind. “Henry, he likes to go to different places and see different cultures and absorb them like a sponge, even the ones here on earth.”

He turned and looked at her stoic face. “Why are you telling me this, why are you helping me?”

She sighed. “It's the right thing to do.” She replied. “And you need the encouragement.”

He nodded, appreciating the gesture, he was going to need all the help possible to prove to henry what he was a better person than before. “Thank you.”

She smiled as she looked out again over the water. “How do you know already…what Henry becomes?" Lucy asked him

"Hen Wen." He replied bluntly. She raised her eyebrow "It’s a scrying pig. I asked it to show me Henry when he was older, to see how his name was written on the round table."

"And what did you see?"

"Camelot I presume, under siege from Morgan la Fay, the name Merlin written on the round table." He paused and looked at her bitterly, her face had fallen as she too remembered what had happened on that night. "You're a witch, why weren't you fighting?"

"I was sixteen." she breathed softly "My parents wouldn't let me fight." She looked at him tears forming in the corner of her eyes.

 "You still did your part, you watched over Belle." He was grateful for that, wishing that even after he was gone she was still able to continue on some sort of meaningful life, perhaps even with her help.

"Yeah” She said, but it wasn't in agreement.

He realized that she had been locked in the dungeon, she had never got to see him one last time before he died. _Look after her, Tens_ , was the last thing he ever said to her. “Is your name on the round table?”

That made her smile joyfully. “Shortly after that battle it was. It doesn’t say my real name though. I’m one of the ones who will be immortalized by their silly title instead. The Green Maiden, that’s who I am to Camelot.”

“The Green Maiden?” he echoed

“I know.” She moaned. “I suggested the green scholar, the great reader, barer of knowledge, but you don’t get to choose your own nickname.” She laughed.

“Why did you stay away from me?” He whispered, and she sighed heavily. “I’ve been here for over a month now.  If we know each other so well in the future…”

“Were back to front now.” Lucy replied, continuing on as she saw his expression of misunderstanding. “Now instead of you meeting me when I was a baby and life continuting on in a linear fashion, the first you meet me I’m nearly twenty-five and I know how this chapter is going to end.”

“But we’ll still….”

Lucy looked at him sternly. “I know everything that is going to happen, and none of those days have happened for you yet, and you’re not the man who I grew up with either.” There was a rustled of sound overhead. Her eyes turned from the large ship on the horizon to the skies up above as she saw the colorful burst in the sky.

"What the-" Rumpelstiltskin began, but Lucy knew what it meant.

The familiar whistle echoed in the air, the long call waiting for a response. Lucy stood cupping her left hand to her face and whistling her three note response, _so-do-la._

The response was purposeful as it echoed so loud across the town he wondered if everybody was panicking once again. She was standing up a strange expression of worry on her face. “Into the woods." She muttered turning and scrambling towards the running path which led from the shore to the woods up above.

He was scrambling to stand up and follow her “Wait.” He called after her. She turned and only gave him a cheeky smile. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know.” She said joyously as she ran ahead disappearing behind the curve of the path. “But I’d know that call anywhere.”

He was struggling to breathe as he followed after her. The amount of adventure in the past two days catching up with him. “Is this a bad thing?” He said pausing for a moment to catch his breath.

She stood turning back around to face him. She smiled at him. “It’s a friend, not a foe. But how she got here….”

“Where are we going?” he asked as he fell in step alongside her. She was moving slower now her youthful legs taking short steps to accommodate for his longest strides.

“The portal.”

“But the house is…”

She shook her head. “The original portal. The one we came through two months ago.” She paused but he still didn’t understand. “The one that was created when Regina caused the first curse. It’s in the woods.”

He thought back to all those times that their plans to get back to fantasy realms were placed upon hats and magic beans. “How come we never used it before?”

“It wasn’t meant to be a one way street, not a real doorway or a go between worlds.”

“Then how did you get through it?” He asked already knowing what the answer would be.

“Henry.” She smiled. They were silent as the continued on the path, eventually staying from it to find a small clearing on top of the hill.

There stood a towering woman, her skin dark and her hair wild, as she looked at Lucy with purpose.

"Tell me none of you were stupid enough to kill that bird." Queen Olivia Swan said through gritted teeth.

Lucy shook her head. "No of course not, we know better."

"Where is she?" Olivia pleaded

Lucy pointed in the way of the ocean. "Where do you think?" Olivia saw the familiar ship on the horizon and laughed to herself. Lucy looked at Oliva, she was wearing clothes which it in with the time period she had come to, and she had a backpack slung over one shoulder. Unlike them, she had come to this time prepared. "Why are you here?"

Oliva looked at her darkly. “He wants to kill the three of you." She replied "Somehow he is now determined to kill you."

"But he's supposed to want to kill Arthur." Lucy began "Killing us will do nothing to stop Camelot."

"I know, but something changed and no one is telling me what. We kept your disappearance a secret, but I think he still put it together. He’s been sending cursed creatures and objects all over the realms in the attempt of getting one of you under his control.” She paused seeing the wrappings on Lucy’s arm. “How did that happen?” she asked almost afraid of the answer.

Lucy shrugged. “Just the usual way, nothing out of the ordinary. How far is he willing to go?”

“He opened a portal in time to get that albatross here in the hopes that one of you would be stupid enough to kill it and be cursed.”

"So your here to take them back." Oliva turned and looked at Rumpelstiltskin’s who had spoken for the first time since they had arrived. She had only ever meet the man on a few occasions.

She narrowed her eyes at him, she knew his reputation but she also wondered how he managed to know so much about the future which he would never live to see. Lucy gave her a sharp nod, as if to say that he was cleared and could be trusted with such valuable information.

"My instructions were that they would know how to get back,” She said as she looked at Rumpelstiltskin “But you would only know how to do that, if you found what you were sent here for.”

Lucy’s jaw quivered in anger. “Seriously.” She spat. “Henry sent us here to get something which he didn’t even had the gall to tell us what it was we are looking for. We went back twenty six fucking years in time, to a world where he is a teenager who doesn’t even know he has magic yet and were still supposed to find this cure-all?”

“I’m just the-“

“Messenger I know.” Lucy spat as she shook her head. “But he didn’t give you a clue or write a note or give us a compass which points in the right direction because apparently being cryptic is in Merlin’s job discerption.” She said throwing her hands up into the air in frustration.

Rumpelstiltskin took her shaking hands in his and looked into her eyes which were moving rapidly, unable to keep up with how fast her brain was moving. “Hey,” he said loudly as he looked into her eyes. “Calm down.” She looked at him angrily, as if he had no right to say that to her. “It’s not her fault. If anything it’s probably mine, where do you think Henry’s gets all that crypticness from?”

That prompted a laugh out of her. “I’m just really tiered of this life.” She whispered.

He nodded, looking at Oliva who still seemed to not trust him. “Henry is certain that they will be able to get back to their own time?”

She nodded. “Yes he is.” She said as she looked at him squarely.

Lucy looked at Rumpelstiltskin, “You know something don’t you?”

He shook his head, he only had half of an idea. “Maybe I could be wrong, and I have no clue who it would help you.” He smiled at her. “Give me some time.”

“Okay.” Lucy replied softly as she watched him shuffle off. She turned and looked at Olivia, sorry that she had lashed out at her. “I’m-“

“I understand.” Olivia whispered as she shouldered her backpack. “I’m going to go find Addy.” She whispered.

“Wait.” Lucy shouted out after her. “I have to change your face.”

“Why?” Olivia shook her head at her.

Lucy walked up to her, only subtly changing her facial features enough so that she could not be recognized. “Because in sixteen years’ time Addy is going to bring you home for dinner one day and it would be better for the sake of the space time continuum if my father didn’t recognize you.”

**

The sun felt warm against her back, even though she knew it was really cold, it was a small comfort as the ship bobbed up and down against the waves. They had finished on the massive restorations of the ship that would be hers in another decade. It felt strange to sail what had once been a bustling and lively private ship with two people but she had done it with less. She had sailed in all on her own when she had been nineteen, across the open seas as she traveled to see the many different ships and their crews who would bow to her will. Seeing the young woman sail such a massive ship on her own had certainly been enough to earn their respect.

Now she sailed it with Killian, each of them moving on deck adjusting sails in a quiet rhythm which they had formed during the process. Addison had always taken to her father more than any of her sisters and it did not surprise her that even while in disguise he was still able to work with her easily. It was a shame that this would perhaps be the last time the Jolly Roger would be taken out until the spring.

Still Addison reveled in the simple feeling of being on the seas again. It made her realize how often she really did sail in her life as a queen. She was strapped to think of a single week in which she had not been out on some type of water for a least the past five years. Caroline made have had her running and fighting, Lucy had her books, but Addison had the seas. The wind blowing through her long hair as her mind darted to each next possible scenario.

"Where did you get that necklace?" Killian asked her, it had been one of the first things he had said to her other than a direction for the entirely of the day. To her the restoration of the ship had been a cathartic process, something which reminded her of her real life. But she understood to her father that the changes he had made to the ship were far more symbolic.

Her hand flew to it instinctively. "My father gave it to me." She replied truthfully. "I was six, he took me out on the bay one day. Just me and him, it was the first time we ever did it just the two of us." She paused remembering the day clearly. "Something had happened with Darcy, she had done something and I was upset."

Of course Addison remembered what had really happened, Lucy had shown her magical abilities. But that time Henry was learning to use magic as well, and she had been crushed to feel as if she was the only sibling left out. "We went out, father than I had ever been out before. Out into the open waters you couldn't even see a coastline anymore. And he told me...." _They may all have magic Addison, but one day you'll have the very seas themselves_. "That it didn't matter what she had and I didn't. That we would grow up to be different people with different lives and that was okay."

"Why the two waves."

She shrugged. "Because I'm the second born girl." She knew now why her father would know how to give it to her when it was the right time. She never knew that life with paradoxes could be so much fun. It was a rather sarcastic thought but it was what so was thinking of as she still touched the necklace. “What are you going to do with this ship?” She asked, even though she knew the answer.

He had kept in dry-dock for years, slowly and clearly only working on it when the inspiration struck him. Part of her didn’t blame him, the bones of the ship were still the same but there were stains from its past which could not be removed.

He had seen people die on this ship, he had lost his hand, and he had traveled for years and years, until he had given it all away for her mother. “I don’t know. I’m not going to get rid of it or sell it.” He muttered as he looked at it longingly. The waves were lapping into the side of the ship, great cymbal crashes punctuating the silence. “I want to take it out past the break into the calm, then we’ll head into shore.” He said as he turned the wheel and the ship followed him.

She loved going past the break, even as a child swimming out to the sea beyond where the waves broke was a terrifying and freeing process. It was there in those waters, so deep you could barely touch the bottom while standing, that she had her first taste of adventure. Your eye always had to be on the water ahead. A wave could still rise up out of nowhere, crashing down upon you with great force pulling you under in the tumble of the water as you would struggle to find the sky above you in the darkness. Coming up after being violently thrown down the sea was always the worst. There was a feeling of ache which ran through your bones, salt was the only taste now and there was the panic that close behind that wave which pushed your down there would be another.

Yet it was also in these clear waters gave way to the creatures who you shared the sea with. Darting past your leg, making themselves visible as if it was a sort of a reward for being able to venture that far into lands never made for humans. It made her feel grown up, as she swam out further in the summers, to the silent comradery of the others who would bob in those unpredictable waters on their surfboards waiting, knowing that if a wave would break out here, it would be worth riding.

The sun was beginning to grow low over the westward hills, and Addison knew her reverie at sea was coming to an end as he began to steer the ship towards shore. She pulled the ship into its hold, tying it to the docks as the day grew colder. The feeling of solid ground beneath her feet an alienating one. How she longed for the life she had once led, how she longed for her own time period. She didn’t know how much longer she could stand living in the past before she went insane.

“Darling.” Her head turned at the sound the voice, tears in her eyes as if this was some sort of cruel trick the universe was playing on her now.

She looked wistfully at the woman standing on the ramp. Even with a slightly altered face she could still recognize her. Addison broke out into a run, praying that she was not dreaming. Her feet shook the metal panels of the ramp between the docks as she ran towards the other woman who was beginning to cry in relief.

“Oh my god, Livy.” She cried as she leapt into the arms of her wife and kissed her fiercely. Relief was washing over her as her feet found the ground once more and she looked into Olivia Swan's eyes. "How did you?"

"He sent me... The he in question very strongly implied to be Henry.

"Is something wrong?" Addison whispered into her ear.

"No but Addy... "

Addison was aware of Killian walking towards them. She reached down and took Olivia’s left hand removing the green gemstone ring behind her back "What are you doing?” She said jumping back in surprise.

"Trust me." Addison whispered as she pocketed the ring as her father approached.

"You must be Olivia." He said with a hand extended. Olivia saw it then, her father in law before her, over a decade younger than she had ever seen him appear to be "Mia’s told me a lot about you."

Olivia gave a small laugh as she slipped her arm around Addison, glad more than anything to be with the woman once more even though she had clearly feel down some sort of rabbit hole to a whole new world. “Has she then? _Mia_ , I didn’t know you could be so… boastful.”

Addison let out a small nervous laugh as she looked between her wife and her father. "I'll see you tomorrow Killian."  She said forcefully as she steered Olivia away.

“So it is true then” Olivia whispered in her ear. “He realized he had seen you before. He had a vision of some sorts, Caroline under a tree braiding her hair and he realized… but it took time to figure out how to send me here. This is….”

“Idiotic and strange.” Addison suggested “Oh I agree.”

“Why did you take my wedding ring?” Olivia asked as they got into the station wagon. All Addison wanted to do was look at her.

“It’s my grandmother’s ring. He see you wearing that ring and he will have questions, and he can’t know Olivia that I am his daughter. In his mind I am two years old right now.” She replied as she started the car and began to drive away from the docks.

Olivia had been here before, none of this was new to her and yet she had eye forehead glued to the window as she looked out at the world of Storybrooke preserved in a time which she had never seen it in. The simplest little things had her commenting on the short ride to the apartment building, the cars, and the signs, which shops were something else in their time. Addison listened to it all with a smile on her face. Hours ago she had been desperate to get home, terrified to live out her days in this reality, now that Olivia was with her suddenly staying here and living out the next twenty five years seemed bearable.

Addy parked the car, and silently they walked up to the apartment hand in hand. As soon as the door shut behind them Olivia threw her up against the wall tearing away at her clothes. "Someone could walk in on us."  Addison muttered in her ear, bothered at the idea of being interrupted.

"Oh like that's never happened before." Livy laughed

"My sisters could walk in on us."

"Your father has walked in on us, multiple times." She breathed against her neck. "With a look of murder in his eyes when he saw us both naked."

"Yes but my sisters would criticize your technique." Addison smirked as she wriggled against the wall

Olivia pulled back running a hand through her short red hair, trying to decide if she liked it better than the black, even though the disguise she could still she the outline of the woman she loved. She her head. “Oh darling,” she breathed "I truly don't care."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All will be revealed next week....  
> ... because that is when I am posting the last three chapters.


	17. Learn

The feeling of someone else beside her in the bed was comforting. They very notion of not sleeping alone after all those long months was an additional comfort as she kept reminding herself that she was still trapped in the past, and had to figure out the next moves herself. Addison buried herself deeper inside of the down blankets pushing those worries aside as Olivia groaned in frustration next to her as she stared up at the blank ceiling her eyes wide awake.

“It’s six in the fucking morning, who the hell is up?” She said rubbing her hand against her face as if blocking the sunlight would make her fall back to sleep.

Addison let out a small sigh as she muttered into the pillow. “It’s Caroline, its side effect from her rowing days plus she works at the school she has to get their early.”

“I think it’s Saturday.” Olivia laughed as she turned over onto her side, looking into her wife’s eyes through her dark veil of unruly curls. “I would pay a lot of money to see her teaching.” She laughed, but the joy from her face quickly fell. “I missed you.” She whispered somberly.

Addy managed a small nod. “We’ll been apart for longer.”

“But I always knew you were coming back. The weeks went by and my own hope began to diminish.” She was running her hands up and down Addy’s arms. They were pale, they always had been even when she had been a sea for long periods of time. Yet there were dozens of smaller pale spots, the little round scars on her forearms from childhood accidents. She had climbed trees against her parent’s knowledge when she was little, and she had always managed to end up covered in sap rather than bruises. Rather than wiping off the resin while wet Addison had waited until it had dried and hardened  peeling off the hard chunks of sap and taking a few layers of skin with it in the process. She had picked at the scabs which had formed and in the right angles you could see the little pale dots which remained as reminders of those adventures. There were larger silver kisses she had received from swords, the tiny little burns she got on her hands from cooking. Olivia had memorized all these scars in the near decade she had known Addison, but never had she been so grateful to see them.

“We can’t stay in bed all day.” Addison whispered gently as she watched Olivia dark hands race across her skin.

“I know.” She breathed in reply.

But Addison was still the first to rise from the bed, placing clothes on as she watched her wife reluctantly do the same. They hadn’t talked much the night before, there were too many other things which were on their minds. She noticed a backpack in the corner, she same one Olivia had been wearing when she met her at the docks. But she didn’t ask her what was in it, she hadn’t even asked her yet exactly how she had managed to get here, none of that had mattered when they had been reunited.

There was guilt at the selfishness which had come over her in recent hours. This was a rare occasion in which she put her own desires and thoughts ahead of others. Her worries hung over her head as she opened the bedroom door, stepping out first to see her sisters standing in the kitchen, preparing breakfast both of them looking at her with strange expressions plastered on their faces.

“I just wanted you to know that Olivia is here.” Addison remarked as her wife appeared behind her in the doorway.

“See.” Lucy breathed in a bragging like manner as she glanced at Caroline. “I told you she couldn’t be alone in there with the sounds that she was making.”

Addison could feel her jaw dropping as they all looked at her little sister aghast. “I cannot…” but Addison was at a loss for words as Olivia just laughed next to her. They walked into the kitchen, sitting at the counter as the two sisters who both had places to be early in the morning were making toast and eggs.

Music was playing softly, the same indie songs which had been playing on repeat for the past few days. They settled into a usual rhythm, talking about simple and boring things which had been happening over the past few days as the sun rose. And not at all worrying about the strange and mysterious objects which they were still expected to find, or the fact that they themselves were supposed to know how to get back home.

 “So why all the disguises?” Olivia mused as she sat back down at the counter.

Addy scoffed as she took a sip of hot and bitter coffee. “You saw my dad yesterday. We’re kids, toddlers, we can’t look like ourselves and have they realize years later than it was us. It would cause…. Time… problems.”

She gave a small nod. “Well it wasn’t for naught, they certainly didn’t figure it out.” She paused giving them as flicker of a grin “Henry was the one to figure it out. He said he had a vision in the forest of a woman under tree braiding her hair, he realized he had seen it before. That somehow it was Caroline. I guess he asked Regina about it, he remembered the aliases you used, she knew that you were from the future. But….”

“But what?” Caroline asked.

“Only your dad knew.” She paused for affect as confusion hit them all. “He said that you told him. Right before you left town you told him who you really were.”

 “We have to figure out how to leave first.” Caroline said under her breath “Why did you come?” She added

“I volunteered since I’m not crossing my own timeline in being here” Olivia replied.

Lucy let out a small snicker as she looked at her older sister. “Yes Caroline your prince couldn’t come because….”

“Wait Caroline’s prince.” Olivia interrupted. “What am I missing?”

Addy turned to her with a small smile. “It seems Caroline has been married in secret for the past four years, we think it is to some prince.”

Olivia looked back and forth between the two elder sisters, her hair following in her wake. “But we know every eligible prince in the land. Tell me it isn’t that Hebert Farn……”

“His name is Finn Edstrom.” Caroline replied in a whisper as she moved to the other side of the counter to sit next to them. “And he is not a prince, he is a blacksmith in Arendelle.”

Olivia gave her a kind smile, as Addy and Lucy swooned in delight. “Congratulations.” She said honestly and Caroline seemed almost pleased.

“How did you get here?” Caroline asked

“With a complicated and not repeatable spell that seemed to take all of the forces in the land.” Olivia stood and walked into the kitchen grabbing the pot of coffee and refilling her own mug.

Lucy turned back to Olivia, the yelling from yesterday had been forgiven but she still had questions. “And Henry didn’t give you anything, to help us get home?”

“Henry did give me something. I had to go all the way to Murcia to get it” Olivia muttered.

Her wife looked at her with wide eyes. “What is it?”

She shrugged “I don’t know, I didn’t ask.”

“Well go get it.” Addison laughed as she ran off to the bedroom and returned with her backpack. She removed a large back box from it and placed it on the counter with a large thud.

 “Smart not to ask.” Lucy retorted sarcastically as she opened the box, and peered inside.  There was as single ornate gauntlet made of gold. Lucy shook her head. “I’ve never seen it before.” She replied.

The other women looked inside, each of them as confused as the next. “Neither have I.” Caroline said as she lifted it. Its unexpected weight catching her off guard as she quickly dropped it back into the box. “And it seems as if it contains the weight of a black hole.” She remarked. “It might be actual gold.”

There was a small knock on the front door as it opened, the dark hair of Mary Margaret appearing. “Natalie are you….” She paused seeing the new woman sitting at the table. “Hi I’m Mary Margaret.”

Olivia shook her hand. “Olivia, I’m Mia’s wife.”

She smiled widely as she looked at her up and down. “It’s nice to meet you…. So you must be from the future then too.”

“Yes.”

“How did you get here?”

“I’m not really sure myself. I was the work of a powerful magician.”

“Oh.” She replied somewhat disappointed “What lands are you from?”

Olivia let out a small laugh, she was often asked about her race. She was tall and imposing with dark skin and brown hair, and a youthful face “The Sunter Isles.”

Mary Margaret did not hide her surprise well. “Oh so you didn’t grow up in this realm?”

“No.” Olivia said with a laugh “But I married a woman who did. How do you know…?” She knew the real answer but she also knew that she needed to pretend along with her wife.

 “I work with Natalie, we drive into work together most mornings. Darcy I just wanted to see if you would be able to…. Where did you get that?” She asked her voice deep as she looked at the gauntlet.

Olivia looked at her with trepidation. “I was told to bring it here.” She replied sheepishly. “The same sorcerer who sent me here gave it to me. Is something wrong?”

Mary Margaret shook her head. “No… you just… you should see go and see David at the station, show it to him. I think I recognize it, but he would know for certain.”

**

They felt strange walking into the police station, all eyes on them as they tried their best to manage grown up expressions. “How can we help you” Emma asked as Addison, Lucy and Olivia entered with the long black box. They looked around, only Emma and her father were in the room.

“Um.” Addison began as she placed the box on a desk. “Mary Margaret said we should show you this.” She said looking at David as she opened up the box.

He stood looking it over. “How did you get that?”

“More importantly what is it?” Lucy replied.

He looked at her sternly as he crossed his arms. “It’s King Midas’s gauntlet.”

Lucy snickered. “King Midas is a myth…. It’s… he wasn’t real.”

“You do realize that you are talking to Prince Charming?”

Addison raised her eyebrow “I think I would know if King Midas was real.” It seemed unlikely with the amount of stories that had been told through various family members that it would have somehow been forgotten.

“I think he might be a little bit before your time.” He replied sternly.

She rolled her eyes as she looked at Olivia who was just as clueless as she was. “And why should we believe you?”

“I was engaged to his daughter, I met the man I know that he was real.” He replied deeply.

Lucy looked at her sister with her mouth handing open. “So we’re just expect to believe that the collective mythologies of the world are real. That there really are Gods. Thor is controlling the thunder and Shiva is going to cause destruction. That somewhere out hiding the in the worlds there are minotaur’s, cyclops, hydras and women with snakes for hair running around to add to the craziness of our lives?”

“Well Medusa is real, I don’t know about the rest personally.” David began earnestly.

“Poseidon is real too.” Emma added, Killian had told her about his adventures with that God of the sea before. “There just another type of story aren’t they?” She added.

“Myths are real.” Addison replied logically as she tried to comprehend the new truth. She looked at her wife and her sister. Wondering if they suddenly changed everything that she knew. How did she not know that myths were real, as those stories always been skipped over when they were little? “Give me the thing that…. That you found in the House of Doors, the watch?”

She watched as Lucy dug into her bag for the watch handing it to her sister. Olivia bent over her shoulder as her hands ran across the carved spider. “If myths are real…Spiders. What are some spiders in mythology…?” She said looking at Lucy.

“Anasazi from Africa, there are some spiders from Native American Mythology. Spiders are often associated with Athena and her counterpart Minerva, as well as the tale of Arachne. Almost every nation has a spider myth” Her academic diatribe paused. “Spiders are either portrayed as tricksters luring people into traps; or creators the weavers of the universe.”

“Tricksters?” Addison repeated as she looked at the watch trying to place it together.

“You do realize there is a piece of paper stuck in the gauntlet right?” Emma said as she jacked the piece of paper our and unfolded it looking at the neat writing which almost seemed to perfect to be done by hand. “All this has happened before, and it will all happen again." Emma read in a monotone voice.

"But this time it happened in London.” Addison said loudly. All heads turned towards her as she shrugged innocently and continued “It happened on a quiet street in Bloomsbury. That corner house over there is the home of the Darling family. And Peter Pan chose this particular house because there were people there who believe in him." She stopped her face flushing with embarrassment. “It's the opening lines to Peter Pan." She whispered

Emma and David exchange a glance. “We’ll already dealt with Peter Pan.” She breathed.

Addison was placing the broken watch to her ear listening to the sound it was making. “That’s not the point of the message” She said as she tossed it back to Lucy. “Trickster.”

Lucy listened, her eyes suddenly beaming as she made the connection. “Crocodile.” She smiled. 

“Dead men tell no tales” Olivia added curtly.

“We went back in time, remember.” Addison whispered.

Olivia was shaking her head. “So _he_ sent you back in time so you talk with Rumpelstiltskin when the man was still alive, to find out how to save a kingdom that he would never even live to see take form? That makes no…. because Rumpelstiltskin….knows… he know the truth about the roles you play.” She said in loud revelation.

“How do you know that?” Lucy said with wide eyes.

“You’re father told me.”  Olivia said in a whisper.

Emma looked at her with reservation. “If Rumpelstiltskin in dead in your time what does he have to do with any of this?”

But her words were not heard. “How does …. Why would he even?” Addison sputtered “What does Dad know?”

“So for at least a decade he has-” Lucy began her eyes widening in anger.

Olivia was shaking her head overwhelmed with their rising voices. “I don’t know.” She snapped loudly. “I told you yesterday they wouldn’t tell me. They said I couldn’t know, I couldn’t just come and tell you. That you had to figure it out or be told… this is time, _Time travel_. This is people knowing future events for decades.”

Lucy nodded, but still looked upset. “Why didn’t he tell us?” Lucy sobbed, the he in question unclear.

“I don’t know.” Olivia replied sympathetically.

 “If all these thing point to Rumpelstiltskin, who is apparently dead in your future, how can he help you?” Emma asked somehow finding it hard to believe that the man would ever die for good.

“There’s only one way to find out.” Addison replied honestly. “We have to ask Rumpelstiltskin.”

Growing up she only had a vague memory of the man. He had always looked at her kindly, but to her and Caroline he was more like the somewhat menacing distant uncle from the tales of the Nutcracker than anything else. He spoke in kind words, showed her small wonders but his interactions with all but Lucy had been brief. Lucy had clung to his side since early age. Winning him over perhaps with her charming smile and her ability to be fascinated with any and everything in the world. He had been Lucy’s favorite relative ad even now in this strange back to front manner she had connected to the man once again.

But there was no doubt that the clues which Henry and the magic of the world around them pointed to the man who had formerly been the dark one. It was likely that he would know of some way to get them back, Addison could no deny that she had thought of it before, but she also wondered what the price would be.

“We should…” Lucy gestured in the air as Addison already was pulling out her phone from her back pocket.

“I’m calling her now.” Addison said in reference to Caroline.

Emma looked at her father as she pulled out her own phone as well. “I’m calling Regina.” She whispered hoping that the woman would act as some sort of insurance as they approached Rumpelstiltskin.

Fifteen minutes later they congregated on the pavement outside of the pawn shop. Regina, David and Emma shared uneasy glances as they looked at the four women who were coming to ask a man whom hardly any of them would ask for a cup of sugar to give them vital information. Even without magic Rumpelstiltskin still was a man who could twist words and arguments into hidden meanings. And yet the four women from an unknown future were determined as the youngest took a firm hold on the door handle and stepped inside with her head high.

The bell jingled at they all found places to stand around the empty room waiting, the shuffling sounds of feet approached. “Well this is certainly something.” Rumpelstiltskin said as he looked at the large group before him.

“They are under the impression,” Emma began in a seething voice, still doing everything in mind not to trust the man. “That you can _help_ them.” Her own belief in his helping abilities clearly something she doubted.

He step forward, walking around the three sisters who were standing in the center of the store. “Take off your glamour’s.” He breathed.

“Um…” Lucy said in a loud voice the slightest tilt of her head gesturing towards her unknowing mother.

Rumpelstiltskin looked between Emma’s untrusting narrowed eyes and her three daughters a smile dawning on his face. “It will be alright.” He whispered

“How do you know-“Addison began

“I may not have magic anymore but I can still recognize it.” He replied.

Caroline snapped her fingers and the false identity slipped away. Caroline’s hair grew lighter in color and straighter, her eyes once again becoming green. Addison’s hair grew down past her shoulders in dark curls, her eyes electric blue. Lucy once again had the short blonde curls and brown eyes.

“You.” Regina said loudly as she pointed at Lucy who turned around to look at her in terror. “I’ve seen you before.”

Lucy laughed emptily. “I don’t think that’s possible.” She whispered feebly trying to keep up the illusion of confidence.

“Yes I have.” Regina replied looking around at the others. “You came to me when….” She stopped looking at Lucy who was at a complete loss and then back to Rumpelstiltskin shaking her head slightly as she continued to muttered under her breath to Emma how she had seen her before.

Rumpelstiltskin laughed to himself, a small laugh of disbelief. “I never thought I would see the day when you three would come and asked for my help.” He said in an honest voice. “Every time I always saw you it was don’t do this, don’t do that, so many rules. But the three of you, together in one place, asking for me to help you. I would have bet my life against this day every happening.”

Addison looked at him, the small flinching movements he had done every time he had seen one of them over the past weeks. “You’re afraid of us. Afraid of _me_ , aren’t you?” Even as she said it he took a small step back. “I mean I know there might be a good reason for that, given history- but why on earth would you be….”

Something was dawning over him as he looked at them. “You didn’t figure it out.” He stated plainly.

The sisters looked at one another with confusion. “What are you talking about?” Lucy said as she looked at Rumpelstiltskin kindly. “The clues all pointed to you?”

“You don’t know.” He repeated, marvel spreading over his face as if savored the small triumph over the women who had been a pestilence to him when he had reined as the Dark One. He looked directly at Lucy. “You said we were back to front Tens. But you don’t know?”

Lucy shook her head. “I have no idea what you are referring too.”

Panic fell over Caroline “Do you know who we are?” She said loudly, he had made them reveal their true selves, it was possible he could see the relation in their real faces. “I mean who are parents are and what are names real are?” She asked in a squeaking voice.

His head tilted in curiosity as he looked at Lucy remembering what she had muttered in a drug induced haze. _You’ll always keep my secrets_. He knew that he had to lie for the sake of the observers in the room. "I don't know _who_ you are, I don't know what your real names are." Rumpelstiltskin began. "But in the larger context of the story, I know the roles you fill."

Lucy shook her head. “Were not part of any story.” She said the world that she had her sisters had said a thousand times before instinctively.

“That a lie and you know it.” He said with a shake of his head. “You were sent on a quest and you’ve found nothing but yourselves.”

David stood forward “You may not be able to see it, but the time you came from, the wars you were a part of. Sometimes we don’t know until we step outside of the world we live in that we are a part of story.”

“Darling, it’s the very reason you came here. To find something that will change the ending we know will happen if we don’t intervene.” Olivia said as she stepped forward, she could say anything in front of the others, but those who needed to understand knew. If they did not come back with something to help them, Mordred would kill Arthur and Camelot would fall. “We’ve had this conversation before remember….”

Henry was part of the Arthurian legend, he was Merlin he was the sorcerer. But it was as if the three sisters were new characters, something different this time around. The Knight, The Queen and The Maiden, who would assist Arthur and all the others who had joined together against the darkness.

“Livy even if that is true….” Addison began as she looked at her wife. This was all too much, she had wanted to live her life, she had never wanted to be a witch she had never wanted to go back at time and have to deal with all this mess now. “How is it possible that you have met us before? That Regina has?” She said loudly at Rumpelstiltskin, she couldn’t control it as a spark came out of her hand, and nearly everyone gasped at it. She was angry she could control her magic in a moment when it felt as if the world was crashing down all around her.

He smiled sadly. “I thought you were here for me at first.” He whispered cryptically

Addison was getting angrier. “What are you talking about?” She yelled, all the lights flickering as she noticed people step back away from her.

He took a small step forward, placing his own wrinkled hand on her youthful one, the warm sensation of magic a comforting one. “I was so proud of having stolen that thing from you. Even though I knew it was really just ornamental. But then when I came here to Storybrooke, to this realm, it came here with me. I thought you came to get it back and to get me, that’s why I gave it back to you.”

The silver shears appeared, weighting heavily in her hands. “You gave these to me?” He nodded. “But Belle said you were terrified of the woman who had these. The woman who was not me.”

“I am terrified of her as every man should be, but those belong to you now.”

Lucy was looking at the man whom she had adored as a child, who she had come to have a connection with over the past days. Worried that she had been played. “Rumpelstiltskin.” She whispered softly like a child just learning the names of the things around her.

He took a step back going behind the counter and took a hold of a stick, handing it to Lucy. She looked at it, notches were marked at even intervals as if it was a ruler. “Decima.” He whispered with a smile.

“Decima… that’s” She remembered the name from her studies. The knowledge that it shared a root with the Latin word for ten coming shortly after. She looked down at the ruler in her hands her mouth hanging open. “Are you kidding me right now?”

He shook his head at her, tears in his own eyes as he looked at one of his closest friends. “No I’m not.” He turned and looked at Caroline. “You are a mother aren’t you?”

She looked at him with narrowed eyes and then she felt in her pocket for the spider covered watched. “A spider spinning not tricking.” She whispered and he nodded at her.

“Myths are real.” Lucy replied as she looked at the three objects in the three sisters hands.

“You choose your aliases quite well.” Rumpelstiltskin began. “Nona, Decima and Morta were what the Romans called you. You were Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos to the Greeks. Together you are The Norns, The Parcae, The Moirai, The Morrigan and whatever other names you have been referred to over the years. You are the three sister of fate. Birth.” He pointed at Caroline, “Life” At Lucy “And Death,” he pointed at Addison.

Addison scoffed as she looked at the scissors in her hands. “I’m the damn goddess of Death.”

“I think technically you’re the Queen of Death.” Caroline deadpanned. “I’m thinking about how to tack this on to the end of your titles. Queen of Death, Bringer of Death, Death Incarnate, Mother of Death, Harbinger of Death.” She rattled on under her breath.

Lucy looked at Rumpelstiltskin, eyes saying more than her words. “How are _we_ Gods?” She scoffed.

Regina laughed. “Oh you’re not Gods. You more powerful than that. Even the God’s have to bow at the will of the Fates.” Regina replied darkly. “A very long time ago, you came to warn me when I tried to kill Snow White, you told me that I couldn’t” She said looking at Lucy

“And I looked like this?” Lucy was shaking her head. “But how is that possible, how could I have been there when you tried to kill Snow White… I mean…” her mother hadn’t even been born yet.

“We’re not bound by time.” Addison said as she looked at her. “The spell didn’t go wrong, I mean it did. But it was because of us. It was the three of us combined that made us travel back in time. All we have to do to go back to our own time is… go through a portal and wish.” Relief fell across her face.

Caroline was biting her lip in concertino. “If we can bend time…. Are we immortal? Is time slowed down for us? Are we going to outlive all of our loved ones? Because given certain circumstances and family history…. That would be….”

Addison turned and looked at Olivia, given that was what had happen with their father it would be, “Plausible and highly likely.” She said aloud.

“Have you not been listening? You’re not the only ones to be the Fates. There have been others before you and there will be others after.” Rumpelstiltskin replied.

“They why did they get chosen?” Olivia asked.

He turned to Lucy, gesturing at Caroline. “You see it now don’t you, it’s becoming clearer. Look at it.”

Lucy’s hands reached out towards her sister. She rested them on the back of her neck almost pinching at the skin, and then she pulled her hand away a long golden string between her fingers.

"Look at it" He repeated as Lucy held the string in her hand, "How many lives had to cross at exactly the right moment? How many curses had to happen? How many deaths had to occur on the right day? How many things had to fall into place for your parents to meet? For them to be able to have a relationship, or for her to even come into being?”

Lucy looked at it, and before her she saw not only the life of her sister and the patches which had led to her creation, but all the deviations they could have taken. One little change in the lives of grandparents and everything would have turned out differently. The path which had been taken, the way the lives of all those in Storybrooke had run their course was the most unlikely of situations. “Multitudes, more than I can easily count.” Lucy whispered as she let go of the string, and it disappeared.

“The sisters of fate arise from the least likely scenarios.” Rumpelstiltskin replied. “In time you will be able to see them. The alternate possibilities of what could have happened if different choices had been made. The sisters are chosen from the most improbable scenarios. The one that only happens if a thousand little decisions things fall into the correct order.  You’ll have a normal lifespan and when you are done carrying your titles, three more sisters from just an unlikely a story will take your place, that’s the way it always is.”

Caroline looked at him “So to get back home, we just have to concentrate on the right time period.” He nodded. “But we were sent here to get something to destroy someone.”

Emma smiled as she looked at them. “You were sent on a quest and you found nothing but yourselves.” She repeated.

Addison smiled back at her and then looked at her sisters. “We’re the Fates.” She said confidently.  “If we want to kill him we just have to kill him.” She said looking at the scissors that cut the string of life. “That it, no questions asked the buck stops here.”

Caroline looked at her with a smile. “All right then. Then we should go home.” She said as she looked at her sisters. Not only would it all be over soon, they had a guarantee that things would work out like they wanted to. She turned and looked at Rumpelstiltskin, out of all her sister she had known him the best. “Thank you.” She said as they all began to leave the shop.

When only the three sisters of fate remained, Rumpelstiltskin called out to their backs. "So which one of you is Caroline?”

"I thought you didn't know." Addison replied with a small knowing smirk as she turned around to look at him.

"I lived long enough and seen enough to be able to put things together.” Rumpelstiltskin began, “I know what that symbol around your neck means, her tattoos are rather telling and you little sister told me how Henry used to tease you with your father’s old hook. Out of curiosity, does it bother your father that your wife calls you darling?”

Caroline looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Why should we tell you the future?"

“Because you all know that I’m a man with less than quarter century left to live? I will be long dead before you ever cast the spell to come back to this time, won't I?"

Addison gave a small nod, he had died nine years earlier when they faced Morgan, sacrificing himself for the cause. Dying like a hero even if he hadn’t been one in real life. "If we tell you, you can't tell anyone else."

"Of course not...." He narrowed his eyes looking at her, "Caroline?"

She shook her head. "Addison." The Queen replied.

A funny smile formed across his face as he pointed to each of them "Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. Caroline, Addison and...."

He looked at the girl who he had always called tens. He was expecting something like regal like Lenora, Lauren, or Lorelai but instead she said with a clear voice, "Lucy."

"Caroline, Addison and Lucy Swan." He said shaking his head. “You have my promise I won’t say a word.”

“Thank you.” Caroline replied as they left the shop, the door jangling behind them as they went.


	18. Acceptance

The door to the shop closed with a gentle bang as the three sisters stepped out onto the street. Olivia was waiting for them silently, saying nothing as the four women formed into a small huddle. Caroline almost had to stifle a laugh as she looked at the predictable expressions on her younger sister's faces. Personally Caroline was pleased that she was birth, to her it was half a confirmation that she had finally chosen the side of good in the overall scheme of things. Addison was full of worry, wondering how the fact that she was death affected her. Lucy's face was twisted up in one singular through which Caroline found even more amusing.

"She's going to go full Hermione in three, two…" She pointed at Lucy who rolled her eyes but obliged.

"To the library then." Lucy retorted as they set off down the street.

The four women steeped inside of the library for one final time as the fleeting autumnal sun was beginning to skin down towards the horizon. They stood, surveying the contents of the potential knowledge before them in silent reverie.  Addison turned and asked, "Where's the mythology section?"

Lucy quickly obliged, leading them through the stacks of books to the few shelves which seem to contain all of the volumes on mythology which Storybrooke had. But flipping through the volumes and encyclopedias only seemed to give them the very basic information which they already knew. There was a common theme of one fate weaving or spinning life, the other measured it and finally it was cut by the last sister. But there seemed to be no information about what they did in their spare time, or the extent of the powers that they contained.

They were the Fates, it seemed to them to be a rather big deal and yet there was nothing to help them which they could not have found in a Wikipedia article.  "How did dad know?” Lucy replied as she put back a book on Celtic mythology her large round eyes blinking pointedly at Olivia

"What do you mean?" She whispered, out of the fear of being overheard rather than anything else.

"You said that he knew. That he knew who we really were, how that is possible? He wasn't even there when Rumpelstiltskin told us." She could assume that her mother would likely tell him soon.

Olivia's face scrunched in concentration as you try to remember exactly what Killian had said.  "He said that he found out he put it together that you were his daughters and then you were gone. You told him, and then we left town"

Lucy head bobbed in agreement as she indicated that they should all put their books back on the shelf “Then we should leave tomorrow" she added

"Why tomorrow.” Caroline asked. “Why not tonight.”

"Because it's the one day of the year when you can dress up like who you really are." She added with a smile.  "Now let's get out of here and tear up the town one last time.”

**

Emma looked around at the odd group which was standing scattered about the crypt.  It has been years since she's been here and yet nothing seemed to have changed from how she remembered it. They were talking and frantic voices all of them seems to be worried about the truth they have learned about the women from the future.

"I mean…. Is this really our problem" She words slipped gently out of her mouth as she stared at the stone floors, wondering to herself why they were always choosing to gather in such dark places. Her head rose to see the shocked faces  

"Emma." Regina called out in a scandalized tone.

She threw her hands up in the air suddenly feeling as if she would have never said her thoughts to begin with if it was going to make the victim of a witch hunt. "I mean there from the future. First of all most of us will probably be dead by the time those women are born and second of all they’re the Fates it's not as if here to kill us."

Her father looked at her incredulously. "One of them is _literally_ death."

"Yes but other than the Fates deciding our death, life and birth; when have they ever been vengeful in any sort of stories? None that I've ever heard of. I don't think we have to worry about them." In 26 years she would be regretting half of that statement. She had no doubt that her daughters would ever be vengeful but the realization of who they really were would cause her great worry.

Still everyone in the room looked at her in surprise. They had just assumed that out of all of them she would be the one who was most weary of the situation.

"Emma you've never met any of them before" Regina said with the roll of her eyes

But Emma gave her stern look and she knew she was false.  "I have met them. I met them when they were normal woman. Eccentric and secretive, but then again who isn't." They certainly all had their secrets and challenges, every single one of them in this room was just as different from the Smith sisters.

"Then what do you propose?"

"They wanted to get back to their own time." Emma shrugged. "Let’s let them, they've been here long enough."

Regina nodded in agreement. "Fine, but I still think we should talk with them." she paused seeing the mood of agreement from David. "Let’s go Emma."

She took a step forward and then stopped. "Why me."

"Because you’re a whole lot more optimistic about this than I am." She added through gritted teeth.

They found them soon enough the three sisters and the wife, leaving the library all of them with smiles on their faces.  They seemed joyful, which was not the emotion which Emma remembered having when she learned she was the savior, or that Henry was her son. They stopped in the tracks looking at her with a strange expression.

"Mind if we have a chat over some coffee?" Regina asked in a bristly voice which expressed that they had little choice in the matter.

The eldest nodded her head as they followed them down the streets, the large group getting slip up by other shoppers as they came to the dinner. After four years of city expansion Granny's Dinner was not the only place in town, there was even a Starbucks now, but it was still the friendliest location for openly discussing more sensitive topics such as real life fairytales. They all sat down at a table, waiting until after the coffee had been served before any of them got to talking.

"So you the Fates..."  Emma began after a long pause.

Caroline let out a giggle as she took a dip of coffee remembering how she had sat on this dinner with her sisters two months ago completely in awe of the world around her, and now how so many things had changed.  "Yes we are."

Regina's head gave a familiar tilt "And you really had no clue you were anything other than normal witches?"

Addison gave a nod. "We really had no clue” she replied. Part of her still found it hard that nobody knew, that nobody had figured it out in two decades or that her father had never managed to spill the beans. But then again, remembering back to Caroline's outbursts in her teenaged years, she could hardly blame any of them for not saying anything at all if they had known.

"Will you go back to your own time?" Emma asked looking right at Caroline, she was the one who seemed to have the most riding on her return to the future.

Caroline nodded. "Soon." She paused looking at her companions, they couldn't tell her when, that wouldn't be fair. That would be a spoiler of sorts. "There are still a few things we need to do." She looked at Lucy in particular.

"You’re not going to..." Regina stopped shaking her head as she tried to steady her thoughts. "You all, individuality and combined, have quite a bit of power. Tell me we are not unleashing darkness on the future."

Her concern for the years to come was rather a shift compared to the woman she once had been. They had once been told with a clear smile from Rumpelstiltskin himself, that of any of their trio ever did fall to the side of darkness that it would be the end of the universe itself. But they had all been tempted by the forces of evil in the world and they had all avoided then, and it seemed now with the renewed promised that they were in fact the deciders of destiny it was unlikely for them to ever fall into that trap.

"No you’re not." Caroline replied with a smile.

"That future you come from," Emma began. “Where there are wars and dark wizards casting spells. Can you tell us about that?" All three shook the heads, it was supposed to be a surprise. To come as a shock to them all when the future king was Henry's college roommate in two years’ time.  "Can we get a hint?"  She smiled.

The sisters looked at one another, before Lucy replied with a charming cryptic answer. "Bridgeport." Neither of the woman seemed to get it, which was exactly her point in referencing the over hundred year old novel.

Regina let out an exasperated laugh "Are we supposed to know what that means."

"No" Lucy smirked.

"Well then with that small satisfaction.” Regina stood and looked at them. They were wearing their fake faces once again. “I suppose our paths will cross again in time if they haven’t already.”

“They will.” Caroline breathed. Regina shook her head and swept out of the dinner and into the autumn wind.

“You know for a moment there-” Emma paused as she struggled to remember what they really looked like. Caroline raised her brows suggesting for her to continue on. “I thought everything was going to be normal.”

“Normal is relative isn’t it?”

Emma shook her head, at the construct of her livelihood which was considered normal. “Good night ladies.” She replied as she too left the dinner.

They stayed at the table for a while longer as the coffee began to make them all bounce with excitement. But it was more than just caffeine fueling their exhilaration, they had learned about their incredible power, they would be heading home soon.

“How do you feel?" Olivia asked as she looked at the sisters

"Alive," Lucy replied with a lark. "Like we should find a parking lot somewhere in and doing donuts with the car. Or running wild through the streets. I just feel like doing something where I can feel the wind gusting through my bones."

Caroline reached our across the table and laced a claiming hand over sisters jittery one. "Why don't we meet up in two hours?"

"Why?"  Lucy snapped

Caroline bit her lip. "To go say goodbye." She replied in a monotone voice while looking directly at Lucy. The anger which she had displayed by her sister eight years ago had been enough to rival her own teenage outburst. "Don't squander this opportunity."

Her little sister looked at her uneasily but she knew that Caroline was right, this was her only chance to get to say a proper goodbye to a man who did not even know her yet. "Yeah."  She replied in a shaky voice. Lucy stood up, pushing in her chair as she looked around the room nervously. "Um... I'll.... See you...." She added stunned as she left.

Addison turned and looked at her remaining sister. "What are you going to do?" She asked as she stood along with Olivia.

Caroline looked up at her "Go where the wind takes me." She smiled falsely as she was left alone at the table.

Caroline felt as if she hadn't been close to anybody in this time. Addison had worked with Dad and been gifted Oliva in time while Lucy had gotten a second chance with Rumpelstiltskin. But Caroline had grown no closer to anyone in these two months. She had never liked this town except for the years in which she was very young, and now she had been forced to spend time in it as an adult. There had been no reason for her to try and leave this past, she had accepted that she was stuck, she knew the that there was nothing she could do in this past which would be helpful to her on her own time. But now that she was about to leave, there was a twinge of longing as if somehow she had come to appreciate her hometown.

This was the place where she was born. A strange magical town which had been created out of vengeance and flourished into a place of happiness. She was still from here in the end, this was still her home, even though she had turned her back on it.

She thought to her son, to the small infant child whom she had hidden away for his own protection. She knew that one day he would want to see this place, he would have memories of the house she grew up in, it was inevitable, and she shouldn't fight it.

But she was in the past, what good would that do her now. _Time capsule._ The idea flashed upon her head it was corny and stupid but she remembered it.

It had been just days before her tenth birthday, what she knew now to be the tenth anniversary of the town’s barriers falling and there had been a time capsule. They had the ceremony out by the sea on a cold March morning as the snow was gently falling. Each family was allowed to place one thing in the box before it was lowered into the ground, only to be unveiled after fifty years. She had remembered then how fifty years felt like an eternity.

Tomorrow she would be in a time twenty five years from now, all in the blink of an eye. But she could do one now, she could bottle up all her good memories of the town to show them to her son one day.

She looked around the dinner, she had always liked this place. It had always been a place where there was no yelling or fighting. She reached across and pocketed a spoon off the table before leaving quickly. She needed to get a container and she needed to get things to place into it.

She ran across the street stopping in at the local supermarket to buy a metal tin full of cookies which she then proceeded to dump into the trash. She waked back to the station wagon placing the spoon inside wondering what else she could possibly add. She felt the phone in her pocket the chances that it would work in thirty years was slim, but she had magic and it could take pictures.

Soon she was off, driving through town collecting items and taking photographs if things as they came to mind. And when the tin was rattling around next to her on the front seat filled with shells and pieces of driftwood she then realized that maybe she did really have more pleasant memories of Storybrooke than she remembered.

She drove to the woods, hiking off the trails as she found a tree which seemed well suited to the task. With a wave if her hand she created a hole and hit down on her knees into the dirt.

It was dark and hard to see what exactly she was doing but she leaned against the tree and began to type a message on the phone.

_Owen,_

_These are the memories I have of Storybrooke, the town in which I grew up in. It's a strange place, made even stranger by the fact  that I visited it shortly after you were born, only I went back on time twenty six years to when I was just three. This is what I choose to remember about the town which I have loved and hated. You of course will see it differently, but this is what I remember._

She placed the phone in the tin along with all the other items. A phone filled with photos of places and people of what the main street had looked like, what the bay was like without the lighthouse.

There was a spoon from Granny's Dinner, a take menu from the Chinese restaurant at the edge of town, a copy of the painting of a ship which humors captions which had always been in the house. Then a leaf from her favorite maple tree outside the elementary school, shells, driftwood, the same type of star wars action figure as she had grown up with, the little golden book which had been gifted to her before Addison was born. She added her staff ID card from the high school, a DVD of Frozen.

She closed the full and rattling tin and placed it in the ground. She didn't know when she would return to it.  But she walked away from the freshly upturned earth excited to look back and see the change not only in town but in herself as well.

**

Olivia had to stifle a snicker as they tip toed up the gangway. "This is a very weird place for you to decide to come in order to have a make out session." She said finally. She had been rather quiet since leaving the library, taking the time to see the strange reality of the town around her. She had stared in silence at every little thing that was different between the town in this time and the town which she knew in her own adulthood. She had been even more surprised when her wife have driven them back to the docks, but then again they were both sailors whose desire to be near unbound bodies of water could never be quelled for too long.

Addison turned and grinned as she stepped upon the deck of the Jolly Roger. "That’s not what we're doing."

Olivia didn't hide her disappointment well as they headed below decks. She knew this ship just as well as Addison but she was wondering why her wife have brought her here in these last few hours that they would possibly have before they returned to their warzone. They were careful to watch underfoot as they crept along the narrow passage ways with uneven footing Addison leading her through the lower decks to one of the sections of dimly lit barracks.

She walked towards one with purpose, casting a small ball of light to illuminate the room on a blue glow. Olivia did not comment on her wife’s magic, having had been told about her newfound abilities the night before. She watched in fascination as Addison, bathed in blue light laid down on the bottom bunk and stared at the wood a foot away from her face with a fond smile.

. "This one was mine."  She whispered "You can't imagine the looks on people’s faces when a pirate ship pulls into port, at least in this realm."

She scooted over and Olivia lied down on the bed with her it was tight with two grown women but they manage to make it work her hands intertwining enjoying the small moment. "Please tell me you're not here so we could make out in your childhood bed"

Addison let out the hardy laugh of an old pirate. "No. Give me a knife?"  She mused

Olivia reached down into her boot and pulled out a switchblade which she carried on her at all time and handed it to Addison.  Addison flung out the blade and reached up above her head as she began to carve into the wood above.

"What are you doing?"

"Vandalizing my own ship."  She smiled as she continued on the wood shavings falling in her face. "When I was a kid and couldn't go to sleep, I used to always look up at this. I would run my hands over it, I knew it well, I worn it down with age. I know this whole ship well, but the thing is when I was restoring it, it was never here."

"So you have to add it now."  Olivia whispered.

Addison nodded as she closed the knife and looked up at the nautical star. "Yeah, someone has to." She turned her head and easily kissed Olivia. "Now let’s go make out in our bedroom." she added as she ran her hands up and down Olivia's side.

"Oh you mean the captains quarters?" Olivia said incredulously as she pulled away for air. “You’re not the captain yet."

"Once a captain always captain, and besides I'm an admiral."

**

Lucy paced outside if the shop, remembering having seen Henry do this earlier. She was afraid to go in. not because she didn't want to tell the truth, this was a conversation she had been waiting ten years for. But because she knew that if she went in, she would never want to leave. Finally after wasting ten minutes she threw open the door.

"I don't know what there is that's left to say. Especially because I feel that I said everything I could ever want to say to you in my lifetime 10 years ago in some castle in a faraway land after you died…” She paused shaking her head as she looked down at the wooden floors. “I was stupid... Young and naïve, and I thought that you were going to be there for the rest of my life- which is a ridiculous assumption to make because you were old you've always been old-and on top of everything…I should have seen it…” Something inside of her seemed to snap as her shoulders hunched forward and she paused for a very long time. Tears silently beginning to fall across her cheeks.

When she spoke again her voice was calm and distant. “I should have seen that you were trying to cram every single life lesson into those last few weeks. But I was 16 and I didn't want to see that. And now that I'm here and you're here, and I don't know what else there is to say to you.  Because the only thought that I have had running through my mind is that this whole time you've known me… Ever since I was born, you have known that I'm the incarnation of life.”

She looked up at him, their eyes meeting across the distance as she looked so much wiser than she let on from outward appearance. “Is that why you befriended me? Did you think that I would change your life, that I would make it so that you lived instead of died?"

He walked over to her and placed his hands firmly on her shoulders as he looked up into her eyes.  "I don't know why we'll become close Lucy. I don’t think it’s because you’re the fate of life. I don’t I would ever manipulate you like that.”

“But see. I know.” Lucy pleaded. “I know how you have manipulated in the past, especially the people you care about. So am I different, or am I just part of that pattern?” She wept.

 “I can't explain things that haven't happen yet."

"No you.... You can't."  She whispered as she looked at him. "I'm sorry I shouldn't be mad at you, I should try to be the bigger pers-"

"No you should be mad."  He interrupted her.  "A lot of people over the years have been mad at me, and I think you deserve to be as well. I didn't say goodbye to you. I don't exactly know why but...." 

He could assume that maybe it was because he knew she would see him again but given the circumstances that just seemed inconsiderate. He could only assume that the reason he had never given her a proper goodbye on the night he died was due to his craven nature. He had seen the way she looked at him, and part of him was ashamed that it was with more love than his son had ever given him.

"Lucy I'm not... Your father, I'm not related to you in any way... But I still just don't...."

"For as long as I can remember...."  Lucy looked at him, maybe she wasn't supposed to outline their relationship to him, but he need some small kernel of faith that he could be a kind man by the time she was old enough to remember.

"When I was sick you would read the stores of Princess Cimorene to me.  You hardly ever let me into the back room of the shop, but when you did it was like being in this vault where everything down to the paperclips we treasures. There was always music playing at your house, symphonies and concertos on the record player even though I preferred jazz. You tried to teach me how to play the piano, but the only thing I still remember is jingle bells. When I was older you would take Henry and I on trips.  And when I couldn't go to sleep you told me to think of a story in my head, until sleep came." Lucy paused wiping away at the corners of her eyes.

"You aren't my father, you didn't replace him.  But I was a little girl who saw a lonely old man, and I wondered why he didn't have any friends. And when I saw that I could make you smile, when I knew that you would looked at every picture I ever drew and say how wonderful it was even if it was shit.  And when you were fed up with me I could just run along home, but you were always there when I needed you. I decided to be your friend. But in the end I think... "

She was more than just his friend.  It's a sad thing when a man is abandoned and cast aside by his children.  Even though he very much deserved his son’s hatred of him it was still a dark mark on his life. But Lucy saw the good and the bad in him, and she saw that most of all she could make him better.

"I'm sorry then."

"Don't be... Not for going off and being a hero once."

He shook his head. "No, see what’s always been my problem is that I love someone too much to tell them how I really feel, that’s why I turned to lies and tricks instead. But I saw the look on my face that night... I can't imagine how much you'll mean to me one day, and the fact that you are one of the sisters of fate, I don’t think that important to me anymore. Because I know now how much time I have left,     and I can accept it."

"Well, you have all those days to come." Lucy replied

"Yes, yes I do” But part, of him was terrified with the knowledge that he would be a good person in the end. He had remembered what he had said to death to Addison in the end _does it bother you that I redeemed myself in the end_ he wondered what kind of judgment would face him after death, but that was still seventeen years away.

"Don't worry, you won't fuck it up." Lucy said as she wrapped her arms around him and embraced him tightly.

He laughed at her coarse language. "Are you leaving now?"  He asked selfishly.

"Tomorrow."  She whispered into his ear.

**

The sun had set hours ago and the sliver of the moon which was left hardly seemed to illuminate the sky as they rode in the car out past the limits of town. The highway was long and winding hardly occupied by any cars as it grew later and later into the night. The music was blaring at top volume can Lucy took the corners at top speed her one hand deftly dancing across the steering wheel.

"Where are we going?"  Olivia asked as Lucy turned the volume up even more to account for whatever Caroline had placed in the trunk which was now rattling around.

"I don't know."  She said gleefully smiling through the pain as she turned down a side road, slowing down as they entered the darkness of unlit side streets winding down closer towards the waterfront. They passed by the gates of expensive houses, whose exterior lights provided the only illumination in the perilous winding road.

It was the dead of night and most rational people had long since gone to sleep.  They had driven north for hours Lucy guided by some internal compass as she now slowed down at where the road dead ended into a small circular outlet to a small viewpoint overlooking an unseen ocean in the darkness of the night.

The car stopped and the all clamored out into the darkness of the night. Lucy created a small ball of glowing light and allowed it to float up into the air, illuminating there way as Caroline opened the trunk and tossed aside the blanket which she had laid down to reveal a collection of pumpkins, most of them dark orange and heavily bruised from the car ride up.

"What are those for?"  Olivia asked but Lucy her eyes wide as she remembered the childhood past time had already grabbed one of the pumpkins in her hand and ran over to fence against the cliff throwing the pumpkin down. It shattered unseen on impact with a satisfying boom on the rocks below.

"They’re for that."  Addison replied sweetly to her wife as she too took a pumpkin and went over to where Lucy was. They continued in for nearly an hour until there were no more about pumpkins left. The four of them sat upon the singular bench, the cold wind swirling around them as the heard the ocean waves moving rhythmically below them.

"I missed Halloween, and all the lead up to it."  Caroline muttered

 "It still a few weeks away, when we get back you can do it properly this year if you want to." Lucy replied.

"Yeah I want to see my nephew dressed up as a pumpkin." Addison added.  "Halloween," she breathed "The night of witches and magic."

"You’re a part of that magic now too you know." Caroline smiled

"Yeah I know."  She paused for a while finding it funny that she of all people was now associated with so much of the darkness and mysticism which surround the holidays.  She was a pirate, a Queen, a witch, death. "What was that song we used to sing in elementary school, the one we could only sing twice a year?" Both her sisters looked at her as if she was mad. "No remember ‘cause it would share the little kids so we only sang it right before Halloween and at the 6th grade choice sing. It was about...."

"Anne Boleyn” Lucy shouted with a smile on her face.

And suddenly they were all bursting out into song as they stood at the edge of the outlook as childhood music filled the night air.

"With her head HEAD tucked TUCKED underneath her arm she walks the bloody tower. With her head HEAD tucked TUCKED underneath her arm at the midnight hour."

They continued on in the dim light with the motions which had been made up by more enterprising classmates, trying to remember the words to long forgotten verses.

“You know after all we've seen it’s possible that Anne Boleyn really was a ghost chasing after King Henry the Eighth at Hampton Court.” Caroline muttered as she leaned against the railing.

They all laughed, but none seemed to have anything else to say as they looked up at the stars his above them. The struggles of home were so close now, and yet they didn’t want this night to end. One last chance to be childlike, to be removed from the battles and the wars which were all a part of their duty.

They were the Fates, it felt as if they could not tell it to one another enough times as they sat there in silent contemplation wondering what their lives would be like twenty five more years from now. Tomorrow they would go back to the time, but it was beyond that that now made them wonder, it was the future they now questioned.

"You can see that too you know."  They turned around to see three women standing behind them. They all had the same dark hair and tanned skin with the exception on the elder one whose hair was already grey. If was as if there looking at one woman's three stages if he life rather than three sisters.

The Swan Sisters all stood to their feet. "You’re Fates too." Caroline replied.

The Maiden, who looked no more than twelve gave a nod. "Yes we are, though we did not the luxury of growing up in such a welcoming community to the idea."

"Where are you from?"

The crone chuckled "Where and when is the correct question. The Arabian peninsula, in the 8th century."

"What are your names?"  Addison asked, looking particular in the older woman who she knew to be great counterpart.

"Nya, Imara and Sada of the Imanr tribes and you are?"  The middle one asked.

"Caroline, Addison and Lucy Swan of the 21st century." Caroline replied. "Why are you here?"

Sada the eldest answered. "You have questions do you not?"

Caroline nodded rapidly, quickly blurting out.  "Are we immortal?"

"No” Imara the youngest the child of life replied. "But you are not bound by time, therefore in your life span you will see the future and the past of this and many other realms and worlds."

"Is this a permanent occupation then?"  Addison asked.

"It is for the rest of your lifetime, but you may still rule your land and Seas Addison. But any decisions and actions which you make as the Fates must be made with your own sisters. The Fates are a unit of three blood sisters, you may meet other trios in time, but you cannot trade members."

Addison turned and looked at her counterpart.  "I am death."

"Yes"

"I can kill someone"

"Yes"

"But what if I don't want to?"

The old woman smiled as she took her by the hand. "For most death is welcomed after a long life has been led. Though you will have to take lives before others believe them to be ready. You can see all that is and all that was. Each life has an impact of the weight of the world, and those lives which get less time than others still have a place with the string of life. Death is difficult, it can be kind and it can be cruel, but if you are just and fair death will be right."

The woman stepped back and as neither Caroline nor Lucy had anything else left to ask them thy appeared ready to leave.  "Will we see you again?"  Lucy asked as she looked at the sisters who had chosen the more traditional representation of the Fates.

The three held hands as they spoke in unison their three distinct timbres of voice forming in harmony. "That is unlikely, but then again all of us bestowed this role are."

And then they were gone as suddenly as they came. Suddenly it seemed at of sitting on a dock and recounting childhood memories was a useless task. They hit into the car, driving back into town into the early hours of the next day. They went to sleep knowing that this would be the last day in this version of the past, and that by the time the sun had risen and fallen on Storybrooke once more they would be back home.


	19. Apogee

The final morning was filled with a warm autumnal light, the sort that was warm and gold in the chilly weather, which happened only when the leaves had turned to colors and the pumpkins sat on front porches. Addison awoke with a small tinge of regret, she had come to enjoy the small comforts of this time period and the life she had masquerades in over the past two months. But there was no point in staying any longer, they had discovered what they had needed to learn, and now the responsibilities of the world they had left behind were calling out for them.

She was looking forward to get back to that life, to once again be the ruler of the land and the seas. To take up the responsibilities which were asked of her and to serve others in the way which was best for everyone. She loved being a queen, she loved the dedication and devotion she could feel towards others, and this time away from that lifestyle had only confirmed that this was the profession she wished to continue on with. She had been young when she had taken the throne and now after fourteen years she doubted where any one would shame her for wanting to leave, but the truth of the matter was that she did not want to leave, not at all.

She arose, stepping out into the living room to see only Olivia sitting at the table. “Where are my sisters?” She asked as she gently nipped at Olivia cheek.

“They said they had one last thing to do.” She replied.

Addison sat down next to her at the table. “How long have they been gone?”

She shrugged. “Twenty minutes or so?” She had a phone in front of her and was scrolling through the news feed. “Are you alright?”

Addison inhaled. She didn’t really know. It had been a lot to take in over the past few hours. The suddenly knowledge that she was, for the time being, death incarnate. She had the powers to end someone’s life with a simple snipping of a pair of scissors.

From the moment they had stepped into the shop, she had begun to place the truth together. But she had never assumed that she would be death, Caroline seemed to be the likely mark for that role. Yet it was her who had been given that role. She wished that suddenly she would feel a great harmony with the darkness of the world. Perhaps she would see ghosts or ticking clocks to guide her decisions, but there were no supernatural aides to reassure her in the decisions she would have to make. She didn’t feel any different, she didn’t see the world any differently, but she had the knowledgeable that her position in the universe had drastically changed for good.

“You know I would have thought Caroline would be more suited to be death.” Olivia began off handedly. “But then I did some research of deities. The ones that are bombastic, volcanic, that rise up for the oceans and because waved in their wake, they all leave creation in their wake. Caroline may be wild, but she no wilder than the others. And the Gods of death, well, they’re not vengeful instead they are kind and considerate. I guess it makes sense if you give someone the power of death you want to know that they would use it in the correct manner, not abuse their power.”

Addy looked up at her with a small smile. “Does this change everything?” She whispered.

Olivia let out a small laugh, remembering the very first time she had said that statement. “No it doesn’t.” She echoed back to her wife, taking her by the hand.

“I have magic now, you know?”

She nodded “Honestly Addy I’m just waiting till we have a normal day once-“

The door banged opened and both Caroline and Lucy came into the room, their arms full with the clothes which the three women had been wearing when they arrived into town all that time ago.

“What on earth are you doing with those?” Addy said as she rolled her eyes, watching as they dumped the pile of cloaks and armor on the sofa and began sorting them.

Lucy looked up at her with big shinning eyes. “It’s Carnival Day.”

Addison let out a small moan as she watched them both. The Halloween Carnival, was one of the few days in which the citizens of Storybrooke donned the identities of who they once really were. The streets were cleared of cars as children went door to door trick or treating at local businesses. Booths full of games and food were set up in the fields of the High School, and the town embraced it’s quickness with a pumpkin carving contest.

They were planning on leaving today, there was no point in staying, not when they all had so much to get back too. But Addison looked at her sisters understanding what they had in mind. “We still can’t wear those outfits.”

“Why not?” Caroline scoffed as she began the long process of putting on her armor. “We’ll fit right in.”

“What if somebody recognizes us?”

Lucy shook her head. “No one will recognize you with a different face. Besides hardly anyone will see us, we’ll stop in at the dinner, say a quick goodbye and then leave.”

Addison was quite as she slowly allowed her sisters will to convince her. “What about Olivia, she didn’t come to town in the full regalia.”

Lucy shrugged. “Easily fixed,” She said with a snap of her fingers as Olivia was transformed into her Queenly garb.

“Alright.” Addison said with mocking news as she early grabbed her crown and placed it on her head, feeling now fully complete. “Now hurry up and help get Caroline into her deathtrap of a suit of armor before the sun goes down.” She added with a laugh.

**

Magic was in the air of the picturesque foliage lines streets of Storybrooke. Costumes were worn with silly knowing smiles as adults walked up and down the streets, for one day only assuming the roles which they had once lived in their past. For one day there were princesses and witches who once more roamed the Streets of Storybrooke in their long forgotten clothes. Children walked up and down the street in awe of the adults dressed in their tiaras and ball gowns. Their hands would reach out and touch Ruby's red cloak as she passed out candy from the dinner, little boys would look at real swords and arrows with awe as they passed by on the belts and over the shoulders of those brave souls who had fought against dragons.  And in twenty years’ time when the same costumes had been worn for two decades by the same small gathering of people, their children and grandchild would sing out behind their backs “Tradition.”

The party at the dinner was in full swing as those who had lived in Storybrooke since its beginning gathered for a day of reminding about what the town had once been before everything changed nearly four years ago. The doors would swing open with a small jingle and heads would turn to see young trick or treaters or yet another real princess entire the dinner.

"You're getting a little too old for that outfit Tiger Lily." Harris said as he sat down next to her at the counter. Her black hair was in pigtails as the fringe of her dress moved with her every motion.

She looked him up and down. "And yet you still keep on rocking that kilt." She laughed as he adjusted at it with a smile. The door opened and they both turned their heads to see who had arrived. Regina was wearing the full of evil Queen Black dress, Robin in his hunters outfit. Both Roland and Charlie were dressed otherwise "God she looks terrifying. Glad I never knew her back then." Lily added as the family disappeared into the crowd with little talk.

The mansion out on the edge of town had been up an operating for a few days now, and the dinner was filled not only with those who had been in Storybrooke since the beginning of the curse but those who had now come to visit from other realms. Mulan was sitting next to Merida at a table, both of them dressed for battle laughing over a few beers. A woman named Dorothy was talking with a few of the dwarves, and there were others who went unrecognized.

The door opened yet again, and this time the three sisters of fate entered the dinner.

Today would be their last day in this Storybrooke, they had found what they had intended to come for, they had managed to open up the portal back to their own world and now there was no more reasons to stay, and on this very last night they had dawned the outfits which they had hidden in the forest for so long. Caroline moved about swiftly in the armor which she had been wearing most of her life, the long red cape sweeping out behind her as she sat down with the new friends she had made. Lucy was back in her green dress, looking ever the part of the unassuming mediaeval maiden. Both Addison and Olivia had crowns on their heads as they entered the room, both of them looking positively as regal as they were.

Caroline leaned against the counter running her fingers on the metal and she waited. it was strange being in this room, looking around at all the costumes she'd grown up scene yet it was as if she was suddenly seen them for the first place rather than some countless amount. In a few hours she would be home in a few days hopefully this war would be over and she could finally have a life which could be considered somewhat normal.

"You're…. you're a knight." She turned her head and looked at Robin who was standing next to her on her up and down, his mouth open in surprise. She looked at her outfit is well wondering if when the war would all be over she would still be at knight. It is been her occupation since she was a teenager, but she was no longer an angry terrified young woman. Her life has changed in more ways than one and she had an inkling that her occupation would change in the coming years as well.

Caroline laughed at Robin. "And you look positively mediaeval as well." She said in reference to the outfit which he wore

"But you...." He was sputtering not knowing exactly what to say as he looked at the woman before him.  "You’re from the future." He hissed, his face thrown into confusion.

She smiled at him. "You know just as well as anybody how strange those realms can look like. It's a place where there are kings and queens and knights all still exist."

"Yes but…" He stopped not knowing how to respond. He turned and looked around at the other women who had come from the same time period as she had. Two were wearing crowns upon their heads, the youngest one whose arm was no longer in a cast but rather bandaged heavily was wearing an outfit made of all green which reminded him of that which he was wearing. He realized that this was who they really were, perhaps their faces were different but the clothes which they were wearing reflected their true personalities and identities.

"You really are a knight aren't you?" He murmured softly as she reached across the bar and took the drinks in her hands.

"Well you really are Robin Hood aren't you?" She replied with a wink

"Yes but-" He paused again unable to complete the sentence.

Caroline take a step back and rolled her eyes "Get on with it” She said in a half patient voice.

"It’s just not what I expected"

She looked at him with the twinkle in her eyes "It never is" She cooed as she walked away

 

Emma slammed the trunk of the car shut as she adjusted the short cape and went around the car to unbundle Addison from her car seat. Everyone else was able to wear the clothes they had once donned in another realm. Her parents would become Snow White and Prince Charming for one night, Regina would be an Evil Queen, even Killian would pull out the long and heavy black coat he had once worn as a Captain Hook. But Emma never had an official uniform as the savior, and now she was at her daughters will as to what they wanted her to wear. She adjusted the pink cape, wondering how much longer this phase of Caroline’s interest was going to last as she undid Addison from her car seat.

"See you don't like being a snowman do you?" Emma whispered into her daughter’s ear as she held Addison in her arms as she kicked the door closed with her foot. "Caroline don't run." She yelled as she watched her eldest daughter's blue cape disappear from view as the little girl went into the dinner. It was a strange sort of irony that the ice queen who had once walked down these streets had become the animated film which her daughter adored the most.

Killian was laughing next to her as they walked up the steps. "How did you not get roped into this?" Emma asked her husband rhetorically as he held the door open for her and she looked through the crowd for Caroline.

He reached across and took Addison into his arms. "You know for as much as you have been complaining about the costume it is rather detailed."

"Well I did meet the poor girl and it seemed I should do her justice." Emma replied.

The Caroline Swan who was dressed as Elsa moved through the crowd looking up at all the costumes which she saw. There were princesses and Princes from stories and movies which she had heard of. People from places which she had never heard of, and they all looked down at her and laughed as they saw the miniature version of the woman most of them had met.

"Caroline." A soft voice called out in the crowd and the little girl turned around as she looked at the woman in green.

"Darcy." She shouted as she walked towards the woman who had been her babysitter. "Who are you?" She said with a scrunched nose.

Lucy bent down and smiled at her. "You looked very pretty, Caroline."

"I'm Elsa."

"I can tell." She replied, she too had seen the movie countless times in the past few weeks. "I'm a witch." She said with a small smile bopping her on the nose.

"Really?" Caroline seemed skeptical as she looked at the plain outfit.

"Oh don't let the boring clothes fool you. I'm in disguise as a normal person."

"Darcy." The black and white Knight was pointing out the window. Lucy looked up and saw the face of the man who was reluctantly to go into the dinner. Rumpelstiltskin gave her a small wave as she nodded back.

“You look very nice Caroline,” Lucy replied to the little girl as she took her by the hands and smiled up into her face. “But I have to go now, so promise me that you’ll be a good girl and you won’t use your powers for evil?”

Caroline rocked back and forth. “Okay.” She breathed as she hugged Lucy briefly before pulling away and scrunching her face up at her older self.  "Girls can't be knights." Caroline called out as she looked up at her older self

The Knight looked down at her. "Girls can be anything they want. Even knights." she said in a small whisper as the two sisters left the little girl.

The door jangled opened and heads turned to see Belle and Rumpelstiltskin enter. Some faces turned away quickly, many others smiled at them. But he wasn’t paying attention to how the world viewed him.

“You didn’t get the memo I see?” Lucy chirped as she pushed through the crowd.

“The Green Maiden.” He whispered as he looked at Lucy who still had the different face.

She inhaled as she looked at him, he seemed so small in that moment. “Stop worrying about the day when Addison comes for you.” She said shaking her head “You know you can’t do anything to stop her, but you can live every last day to the fullest.”

He looked at her proudly. “Wise words from the woman who measures the string.”

"This is goodbye for good isn’t it?" Lucy whispered as she looked at Rumpelstiltskin.

"Maybe." He said with a twinkle in his eyes. "You're not technically bound by time so...." He pulled out of his pocket a necklace, a small pearl pendant dangling on a gold chain. “There was this witch, bugged the hell out of me, always telling me what I could and couldn’t do. She always wore this, and when I came to Storybrooke all those years ago, I found the pearl but I never found the witch.”

Her eyes widened as he put it in her hands. "Future me is going to cause a lot of problems for past you aren’t I?"

He nodded through his laughter. "But that’s okay.... Cause I know what hand you're going to end up losing for good."

She cackled as she put the necklace on “Are you kidding me? Come on you have to tell me I need to be mentally prepared for that day.”

He shook his head pulling her into a gentle hug. "See you in the future Lucy." He whispered seriously into her ear.

"See you in the past Rumpelstiltskin." Lucy replied.

She took a deep breath, feeling Caroline’s hand on her shoulder as they moved closer towards the door.

Addison saw them from across the dinner and she stood up from her stool watching as they waited for her to join them. She began to move through the crowd, holding her Cape close behind her as Olivia followed behind her, but the little girl dressed as Elsa got in her way.

"Are you a princess"? She asked loudly as she looked up at the crowned figure who she did not recognize.

Addison bent down on one knee looking the girl in the eyes shaking her head. "No I'm a Queen." she said in a gentle voice.

"Really?"

Addison reached up and took the Crown off her head with both her hands, holding it out in front of her. "Yes, see this is my crown it tells you that I am a Queen."

Caroline looked at it with a frown her gloved fingers running over the sharp metal points of anchors and trees.

"But it doesn't have any sparkles."

Addison laughed. "It doesn't have to have sparkles if I don't want it to."

"It’s a funny crown." Caroline stated bluntly.

"Well yes it is. Because it tells you what I am Queen of, can you guess?"

Caroline looked at it, her fingers tracing over the images of ropes and vines. She looked at Addison and Olivia. Olivia had a similar circlet around her head, but she wore a crown of only ropes and vines entangles. She looked at them both with a funny expression. "Are you the Queen of a forest by the sea?"

"Oh that's very close." Addison replied sweetly, she was aware of Killian and Emma coming closer to their daughter. "I'm the Queen of a forest and of the oceans"

Caroline laughed "You can't be Queen of the ocean that's silly."

She felt a hand on her shoulder and saw a sparkle of green in her peripheral vision. "Darling." Olivia whispered. It was time to go, Addison could see her sisters standing outside of the dinner waiting for her to come and join them so they could go back. Addison took the Crown and placed it back on her head. "Goodbye Caroline." she said as she began to stand.

Killian looked at the couple who stood before his daughter, at the strange crown which she was putting back on her head, at the familiar wedding ring Olivia was wearing.

He watched as they joined the other sisters at the doorway. The four women looked out at the dinner once more and reached around and pulled their hoods over their heads. He blinked and they had changed faces. The knight’s hair was long and brown, her eyes green eyes filled with determination. The youngest, whose hand was still in a cast had short springily blonde curls and brown eyes as rich as the forest floor.

And the Queen, the woman he had known as Mia. He caught her blue eyes before she turned. He looked at her grey cloak with three black waves, the symbol of the Queen of the Seas just as Mia had just told his daughter that was what she was. The daughter of a princess and a pirate, he had meet one once before in what felt like another lifetime. He looked at the edge of the Queens cloak, at the familiar symbols on it, but the largest of all was the long necked white bird in flight that crested both her and her wife’s cloaks. The Swan.

He was pushing through the crowds chasing after then as they stepped into the night. "Killian." Emma shouted as she made to follow him but little Addison had started crying as he pushed open the door to the dinner and ran into the street watching as the four women in long cloaks walked down the bright day light street.

He stopped wanting to shout out, but he knew there were people all around who were looking at him suspiciously "Caroline James." Killian breathed as he stopped in the middle off the road looking after the four women who like him, were not wearing costumes.

He hadn't expected the knight to turn around and smile at him.

"Then you are..." He trailed off looking at the sister who wore the crown.

She stood tall "Addison David Swan first of her name, Ruler of the Enchanted Kingdom, Queen of the Seas and Death Incarnate."

"And you?" He whispered to the blonde who suddenly looked so much like Emma.

"Lucy.” She said with a wide smile “I won't be happening for about another year." she replied.

"You’re my... my daughters." He said breathless as he watched them all smile at him. The Knight, The Queen and The Maiden, the three sisters of fate his own girls.

"Yes we are." Caroline replied.

He was speechless as he looked at them his hand at his mouth. "Addy." Olivia whispered in Addison's ear with a smile.

"We have to go now Dad." Addison said as she walked towards him. He wondered how he had never seen it before it the two months she had been in town, when they had all been there. They must have tricked his eyes, but he watched in silence as the women return to their true forms.  Caroline had Emma's eyes, Addison looked just like him, Lucy had the same face as Henry, Olivia wore Mary Margaret’s wedding ring, and the Crown on her head was the same design of rope and vines as his own wedding ring.

"Okay." He breathed. "Good luck." He added as she watched them walk away. He wanted to say more, he wanted to say so much more as he watched them pull their hoods down even more and walk away. He wanted to know that they were all right, he wanted to know every single detail of their lives, he wanted to go with them and protect them. But they were all grown up, they could take care of themselves, he knew that to be true and yet he wished otherwise.

"Killian what are you...." He turned around and looked at Emma who was standing still in the street, watching wide eyed as she watched the two red and two grey cloaks retreat into the night. "Are they?"

“They’re leaving for good.” He said finally as he walked towards his wife, taking Addison from her arms as they watched the four women disappear around the corner. "Well what do you know Olaf?" He whispered as he held the toddler close to him so only she could hear. "You're going to be a Queen one day."

 

**

The House of Doors was empty. Something which was appreciated as they made their way through the house, walking straight towards the door to Camelot. They said nothing as they stood in front of the doorway.

How they had managed to get to this time in the first place, which one of them had been the one to think of such a thing was no longer important. None of them said anything as they looked at one another, maybe it hadn’t been intended, maybe none of them had wished to come back to this time, maybe it had been something subconscious. Perhaps in the end they hadn’t wanted to come here but they had needed to.

But all they had to do now was think and they would be back in their own time. It was as comforting and as simple as that. Silently they held hands as they stood in front of the door. The future would be different, they all knew that. They had seen these people in the time before they had known any of them, and now it was time to return to their own world.

Caroline opened the door and they looked out at Camelot perches up on its hill. She looked back at her sisters, a small smile on her face. They were heading straight into war, but they had the winning card in their hands. She looked at the forest through her beyond the door, twenty five more years was all they needed. She closed her eyes and stepped forward.

They had ran at the portal all those weeks ago, the swirling vortex which they had been frightened would collapse at any moment, they had run at it, now they stepped through, Caroline, Addison, Lucy and Olivia.

When they opened their eyes they saw a forest which was no longer lush but rather beaten and burned in the conquests of war. They looked up at the castle of red stone, its flags of warning waving underneath the story skies.

“Did we?” Caroline asked watching as Lucy pulled out her cellphone.

“Oh you sweet piece of modern technology.” She said as she stroked the phone. “We’ll good, this is our time.”

“Then we need to ride up to the castle as soon as possible.” Addison said as she looked at the dark banners which had been risen along with the Pendragon red and gold, the banners of an oncoming battle.

“Horses.” Olivia muttered under her breath, “We need horses.”

Lucy snapped and four brown horses came running out of the woods, they mounted upon them and pushed the creatures to the limit as they neared the castle. The draw bridge was up and bolted, an imposing sight which none of them had ever seen, not even when there had been attacks on the castle before. The skies were dark with the wings of dragons riding protectively around the fortress, as hundreds of men and women stood watch on the walls above.

The guards at the gate looked at him them with recognition as they dismounted. Solemn looks falling across their faces. “Sir Swan, your back.” A knight proclaimed as he lifted the visor of his helmet.

“Hello Galahad.” Caroline replied as she looked up at the fortified Castle with a frown, knowing that the mortal defenses would never hold. “When will Mordred be here?”

“The scouts say that he is less than a day away.”

“Then our timing is wise.” She said with a heavy sigh. “How do we enter?” She replied lighthearted.

He gave her a grimace of hope as he cupped his hands to his face. “Let her down.” He yelled as a long rope ladder was thrown down from the high wall above. “Sorry it’s a long climb.” He replied as the women began to climb up the side of the wall.

Inside they winded through the once airy passageways which had been boarded up and plunged into darkness for years now. One day soon the castle of Camelot would be able to return to what it once was, hall filled with light and sea breezes, but battles needed to be won before any of that could happen.

They opened up the doors to the great hall, heads turning at those sitting at the round table rose to their feet to look at the women returning as if they were champions of a great battle. Henry was smiling at them widely, Emma was getting to her feet to hug her three draughts each in turn. Even King Arthur was smiling at the women.

 “That you for finally joining us ladies.” He joked as the assembly broke into minor chaos.

Caroline looked at her mother. It was strange to see the older version, the face of the woman she had grown up with after she had spent the past two month looking at a younger version.  "Why didn't you tell us it was you?" Emma whispered in her ear.

Caroline looked towards her father. She wondered how soon after they had left that he had told her the truth. He was the only person alive who had known who they really were.  "Would you have believed it Mom?"

"Well no, but it would have made me feel better when you left for two months." she replied with a smile. "And those women, the people who you pretended to be, I always wondered what happened to the sisters of fate, and it would have been nice to know that they were my own daughters growing up right in front of me.” She laughed

Killian was hugging her now, He wasn’t as fit and youthful as he once had been, and his scruffy hair had all turned grey but he still wore the black of a pirate and the smile of a cunning man. “It’s good to see you Caroline.” He whispered as he pulled away from her.

Emma was shaking her head at her husband. “And you knew that they were our daughters, how they would turn out. You could have given me at least some consolation that they were going to turn out fine when they were teenagers. God the days we worried about their futures and you knew the whole time this was who they would become.” She punched him lightly in the arm. “Strong, confident, witches, more powerful than any god.” She laughed as she looked at Caroline, it all made sense now.

Caroline tried to laugh, but her hearts wasn’t there. Truthfully her heart wasn’t in this room at all. “How are they?” She added, her eyes tearing.

Emma knew who she meant, “They’re fine. He’s crawling, not walking or talking yet. We tried but, I think he was waiting for him mother to come home.”

Caroline was wiping away at the tears which were forming in the corner of her eyes. “I want you to know that as soon as Mordred is dead, I’m out of here.”

“And you have every right to be.” Emma said to her eldest daughter. She hugged her once more knowing that she should speak with her others children as well. How many times over the years had she mentioned to Killian or Regina possibly calling upon the Fates to deal with whatever new problem had come to town. It had been a serious discussion when they had faced Morguse three years ago, but they had always brushed the idea off, came to a different conclusion.

Now she looked at her three daughters, Birth, Life and Death. Stronger than the gods the sisters of fate arose from the unlikeliest of scenarios, and she was glad to have taken a part in that. How many times had she and Killian wondered if their daughters were something more than the lives they had choose, they had brushed off the idea in the past. But now it was so clear as day that it had to been her children as she remembered that day in Rumpelstiltskin’s shop twenty some years ago. “I want you to know that I am very proud of how brave you are Caroline.” She whispered as she pulled away and went to go speak to Addison.

"Henry." Lucy said as she pulled at her older brother’s sleeve. "When did he tell you?"

Henry looked at her with confused and narrowed eyes "What do you mean?"

"When did Rumpelstiltskin tell you that we're the Fates?"

Henry shook his head. "He never did. Dad told me after I saw a vision of Caroline in the forest, braiding her hair under an oak tree and realized that she was pretending to be Natalie Smith. Regina told me what they had learned about the sisters before they left Storybrooke. He knew?"

She nodded, feeling almost proud her uncle. "Yes he did, he was the one who told us..... But everything, all those clues, they pointed to him?"

Henry shook his head. "I think you just chose to see it that way." He replied with a smile. The more she thought about it the more right he was.

The watch which Caroline had found, the spider weaving its web. How many creation myths did she know of where life was spun into existence. Rumpelstiltskin had given Addy the shears only after he had talked with Lucy. He must have put it together then. The gauntlet had been to convince then of the reality of myths, the fact that it was made of Gold had just been a coincidence.  And the note, well that had been about Rumpelstiltskin but it was the only direct thing Henry had sent them.

“Luce you alright?” He asked looking up at her kindly.

She nodded, slowly. “Yeah. Do we have a plan?”

“Yes, but we’ll discuss it in the small chamber. The less who know about it….Lucy you don’t seem alright.”

She let out a singular laugh as her hand fluttered to the small pearl around her neck. It was tiny, small enough to get lost in the folds of clothes, a delicate enough to make her worry that it would fall off at any moment. A pearl of wisdom, the idiom ran across her mind. Pearls were worshiped, they were seen as the tears of gods and the teeth of dragons. She tugged on the pearl, the only gemstone to come from the mouth of a living creature, as she looked around the room. She could see the strands of life within each person every one glowing gold everyone a different length.

Some of the men and women around her would die tomorrow, some wouldn’t have another three decades. And she saw it all, she decided it all. She may not have had the power to create or destroy life, but she had that to determine how much time each soul got on earth. That was, the amount of responsibility was washing over her as she looked at those in the room. The people who were her friends and family she could see how much life they all had within them. And it wasn’t just them, she wasn’t bound by time…

“Lucy.” Henry had taken her by the arm and was looking at her concerned.

“I’m fine Henry.” She replied. “It’s just a lot of responsibly to come to grasp. Who else knows?”

“Me, Arthur, Gwen, Grandma and Grandpa and all my parents.” He paused. “Should we tell everybody?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think were supposed to brag about this. The less people who knew the better.”

“You enjoy having a secret identity, don’t you?” he laughed.

She shook her head. ”It’s not like that. We… we should decide on a plan.” Lucy said as she pulled away from him and moved to the side of the room watching as he collected Arthur.

She had stood in this hall countless times before, before battles as well. But it never ceased to amaze her how this room still seemed so comforting when she had such hard memories of the place. Perhaps it was the table itself, a larger than life piece of ideology which seemed to make every conquest and action more heroic. Those who were in this room had been chosen by a larger force than all of them. They had been called to perform a duty and they understood completely the amount of loyalty and trust which that required from them.

Henry was pulling them all into the side room. Caroline, Addison, Lucy, Henry, Arthur and Guinevere shut the door behind them as the six looked at one another to decide upon the final plan of this twenty some year conquest.

“So you’re the Fates then.” Arthur said with a smile as he looked at the sisters whom he had watched grow up. He considered them to be part of his own family. He certainly had been accepted in Henry’s large family after his father had died. “I would say that I’m surprised but after everything I have seen happen in my lifetime…” he trailed of not needing to finish the sentence as he looked at the sisters.

“What’s the plan?” Gwen asked with a smile. “Mordred is expecting to face Arthur. He want to kill Arthur, not the Swan sisters.”

“Then Arthur is the decoy.” Addison replied with a smile. “As long as you are willing to do such a thing. All we I really have to do, all I have to do is get near him.” She trailed off, the knowledge that she could kill a man so easily something that was hard for her to accept.

Henry looked at his younger sister, not even able to imagine what was going through her mind. She was death, she had the power to kill someone, and that choice was final. But he had to admit, that of all the people he knew in the world, if there was anyone who he would give the power of death to it would be Addison.

“I think we can manage that.” Henry replied as he looked at them. “Let’s all get some rest while we can. Tomorrow will be a very long day.”

Henry took the lead in leaving the room. Arthur and Guinevere following after him. The three sisters remained behind. Looking at one another apprehensively.

“Is this what it’s going to be like from now?” Addison whispered as he looked at them. “One battle after another, claiming the lives which need to be taken.”

“I’d like to think that’s not the case.” Caroline whispered. As she looked at them. They were all wishing that they would be able to leave some semblance of their normal lives when this was over, after all that had been the plan when all this began years and years ago. “But we do have a duty now.”

“Yes we do.” Addison nodded. She turned and looked at Lucy

Each woman looked at one another, assume their sister had been given the easier task. Caroline would have rather have been life, Addison would have chosen birth, and Lucy felt as if death suited her the best. But the reality of the matter was that those had not been the roles which they were chosen to play.

Lucy looked at her sisters, a smile forming across her ace. “We’re the fucking Fates.” She laughed as she ran a hand through her short hair. “Even we do have to personally decide the life of every child who is born while we are still alive. We still alive, we still have magic, we have control over immense forces which people have spent their whole lives trying to get. We have powers that people would sell their soul for. Dont mind being inconvenienced by that.”

“Neither do I.” Caroline replied with a smile

Addison beamed as well as she looked at them both “Then let’s go be heroes.”

**

There was a storm in the sky as they stood in the yard the next day. The heavens above had turned to a swirling grey and blue cacophony as thunder and lightning approached. The rain and wind tried to dampen their spirts, tried to make them all feel as if success would be an uphill battle; but they all stood resilient as they looked out at the king with hope in their eyes.

King Arthur looked at the people who had chosen to follow him, the men, women, lord, ladies, kings, queens, pirates. Some within his boundaries, others had simply sworn loyalty to his ideas but regardless of the states in which they belonged to, they fought united.

He took a breath and began to spoke.

“Today is the last day of this war.” He shouted out his voice booming as it reached every single corner of the castle. “Mordred has brought a storm with him. But we have been though storms before and we know how to batten the hatches down by now.

“We are here fighting on this one last day; in an attempt to unify our lands, our seas, every mountain and every valley. We are fighting for our castles and our homes, for our villages and our cities.  He thinks he can stop us from being united, that some tricks and dark magic can tear us apart. But we have been fighting the likes of Mordred since he was a little boy, and all we have become is more unified.

“So today we fight. Fight bravely, fight courageously, and fight under every banner with every war cry known to our kingdoms. For some of you this will be your last fight, and you will be remembered tomorrow. And some lucky bastards will live to see another fifty years after this day. But we will fight together, as equals side by side for what we believe to be right, and tomorrow we will return to our own halls, victorious.”

“Raise the gates!” He added out in one last cry as he mounted upon his horse. He could feel the strong wind pulling him in every direction as he took one last look upon those people gathered in the yard. They came from every house and kingdom, every type of man and woman and they had unified under him. He looked at his friends, at those whom he had chosen to call his family and he felt confident as he charged out into the grey beyond.

He knew by now how Mordred choose to fight. With twisted creatures of darkness, dispensable and replaceable as Mordred himself tore to the heart of the battle to quickly cause his damage and run. Arthur rode out beyond the walls of Camelot and into the dry plains beyond where he stood awaiting as the ashen shadow warriors advanced.

Above him the cries of dragons and the whistles of their riders filled the air as arrows enchanted by magic flew overhead. They nestled into the bodies of the dead warriors, a great green burst of magic before the creatures dissipated to ash, only to be carried away by the winds. The ash threw thicker, the air around becoming harder to breathe as the sun in its apogee turned an angry orange in the sky, raining down light like fire as three more riders came to stand behind King Arthur.

Caroline wore armor, seeing the grey and orange world through the slits of her helmet as she clutched to the reins of her dapple horse with one hand and her sword in the other. Lucy had donned armor as well, her head covered in a golden horned helmet with matching breastplate as she clung onto her dark horse. Addison was unprotected from the physical elements, as she sat upon her pale horse. She looked out stoically at the fields beyond, the crown on her head catching the burnt rays of light as her cloak billowing in the wind behind her. She had a sword at her hip, a knife in one boot and the scissors in the other.

Through the grey mists there arose one solid figure. This would not be the only front which Mordred would attack. Arthur knew it was impossible to win a war without losing a man, but this seemed to be the quickest way.  The meeting of a King, a traitor and the Fates upon the field afore the castle.

The turncoat knight smiled as he looked upon a king who seemed poorly guarded. “You place too much faith in your own skills Arthur.” He sneered at the four riders.

“You place too much faith in your black magic.” Arthur replied uninterested.

The dark knight laughed as he got off his horse and unsheathed his sword. “Then face me. Cast aside these auxiliary women and prove to me that you really are the king who claims to be so worthy of such a throne.”

Lucy gave her sword a strong kick as she stepped forward and stood side by side with Arthur. “And yet not too long ago you were rather intent on stopping us, cursing us and killing us and now were just nothing?”

He looked at her, contempt that she had disrupted his attempt at killing Arthur. “Stand aside, witch.” He spat as he nearly turned back to Arthur.

“Well I’m not just a witch.” Lucy said with a self-assuredness as she dismounted as well. “And I’m not just a princess either.” She added as she heard both Addison and Caroline dismount as well. The trio took a step in front of Arthur standing between him and Mordred

“I said step aside.” He cried out like a child in a tantrum as he fling his hand out to stop her, but Caroline grabbed it instead.

She slipped her leg behind his, popping out his knee with the back of hers. As he stumbled to the ground Lucy reached out her hand pulling sharply at his neck while Addison reached for her scissors.

The golden string pulled away from his body as he looked at them in horror, “See me and my sisters. We’re the fucking Fates.” Lucy said with a smile on her face.

Addison placed the golden cord between the blades of her scissors and she looked at him “And you don’t mess with Fate.” She whispered as she cut it, the cord instantly blackening as his body fell to the ground.

The skies above cleared as westerly winds from the ocean blew away at the darkness which had taken over the castle. Arthur looked at the three sisters, mesmerized. “You have my utmost thanks and respect.” He said as he turned back to his castle the battle over.

Addison took a step back looking at the body bellow at her feet, and then to her sisters. She looked at Caroline, remembering what she had said the night before. “Go.” She laughed.

Caroline nodded, almost awestruck before she disappeared in a cloud of grey smoke.

**

The battle was always hectic, he had learned that in all his years. There was yelling and crying and screaming and smells to which he did not even want to know the source of. But Henry had gone into battle, standing on the top of the wall, knowing that this would be the last battle in a while.

He could see from his vantage point the four riders as they ventured further into the fog and mist, he kept his eyes on the strange beacons watching silently as the hoards got closer and closer to the city, until in one sudden and unexpected moment everything stopped.

The grey fog of ash and death which had been approaching stopped in its tracks and the sun returned to a normal color and Henry leaned over the edge of the wall with little expectations. He had hoped that his sisters had been right in their plan, but he still had reservations. To change the course of a story took hope and love and magic and luck. But when he saw his best friend approaching back to the castle live and well upon his horse he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Halt.” He called out as he looked behind him and the hundreds of warriors who were awaiting a battle which would never happen. “We are victorious.” He added, greeted with the joyous cries of all those around him.

It was done, it was over, he had avoided Avalon, and he had allowed his friend to live and for the realms to be united. Henry looked as the celebration began to spread like wildfire through the castle, and he allowed a smile to form across his face for the first time in a very long time.

**

She ran towards the cottage, not caring that her feet were slipping on the ice beneath as all she could imagine were the occupants inside. Caroline ran, faster than she had in years as she swung open the door with a wave of her hand, not caring if it would frighten him at all.

“Finn.” She called out as she was looked frantically around the room. Not noticing as her husband scrambled to his feet, the child in his arms as he too was momentarily paralyzed with fear before realizing who was in front of him.

“Caroline.” He breathed in relief as she wrapped her arms around him tightly.

Tears fell into one another shoulders as he pulled back looking at his wife with relief. “It’s over.” She breathed as she took her son into her arms. “It’s all over now.” She repeated as she staggered to sit down.

She hardly recognized the child in her arm, an immense amount of guilt which she had been blocking herself from feeling over the past two months came washing over her as she looked at her son. She never wanted to have to leave him again, she never wanted to spend another day in her life without seeing how he would grow up, and she knew that was an unrealistic expectation.

Finn was sitting down next to her, wrapping his arm around her as she held their son in his arms. The little boy still recognized her, he had made sure of that but there was still some hesitancy in the child as it was squeezed so tightly. “What happened?” Finn whispered as he kissed the top of her head.

He hadn’t forgotten her and yet everything about her seemed to be different. He knew where she had been, it had all been explained to him a month ago when they had determined that the sisters had gone back in the past. He had known she was safe, he had known that in time she would come back, and he had learned likely before she ever did that she was the harbinger of creation its self.

“Hello Owen.” She whispered as she bounced the small boy up and down on her knee. “I missed you so much.” She smiled through the tears as she looked at her son.

Finn looked at her proudly, he had always been proud of her, but he was more so now as he understood the gravity of what she had faced and the sacrifices she had made to do it. There were days in which he was in awe of her strength and choices. It just the power of a powerful witch that she had within her, but also her strength of resolve.

She was playing with her son, making faces and talking to him in gentle cooing voices. “Caroline.” He whispered not wanting to bring her back to reality. “You’ll have to go back to Camelot today.”

“I know.” She sniffled. “But you’re both coming with me this time.” She said firmly, with no room for argument.

He looked at his wife, so enamored by the strength and power which she had which did not come from magic. “I’ve said it before, and I’ll kept on repeating it.” Finn began as he looking into her face deeply. “I am yours and you are mine, until the end of time.”

“Until the end of time.” Caroline repeated as she kissed him deeply once more, finally feeling home.

**

Addison watched as her older sister disappeared. She looked at the body on the ground, the shell of a man who had once seemed so terrifying was now only disgusting in her mind. Lucy was already heading back to her horse, mounting it as she took Caroline’s horse by the reins as she headed up to the castle.

She looked down at the body one last time, wondering what would be done with it, nobody ever mentioned what happened after. But she could tell from the sounds of Arthur breathing down her neck, that it was not important. So she turned around, leaving the corpse there as she mounted her horse and rode back to the castle.

The lands were covered in ash, turning the sandy lands a strange shade of green as she rode quickly through the arrow laden landscape. Some of the small green sparks were still sputtering as she urged her horse to go faster. It was over, the reality of that fact was beginning to wash over her as she rode through the land, as she saw the remnants of a fallen ghost army, and as she reached closer to the  gates the remnants of fallen soldiers as well.

But the knowledge that they were over seemed to be enough to liven any spirits which had been dampened by the blood and gore around them. They rode into the yard with a crowd of cheers even as the bodies of the dead and the injured were placed into separate piles. She dismounted, some unseen person coming to take the reins of her horse as she looked out over the large courtyard, looking for those familiar faces in such a mighty crowd.

Grace was sitting on a barrel, cursing loudly as her mother stitched up a wound on her leg. Her brother Neal pulling off his armor piece by piece clear lying looking through the crowd for his father. His eyes caught Addison’s and he gave her half a smile before they scanned away.

Up in the skies the dragons still soared over head. Charlie’s great red dragon with black tipped ears like a lynx was dancing across the sky, its long and serpentine body like something out of Chinese mythology was casting a great shadow on the world bellow. The green dragon which belonged to Roland had already landed in the yard, and he could be seen, in his crimson outfit of the dragon riders up on the towers collecting the green tipped arrows with his father.

She turned once more, turning her attention to the wounded. Olivia was there, running back and forth with bandages, Regina and her mother were there as well. Quickly moving from patient to patient as they healed them with magic.

“Where’s Caroline.” Addison jumped as the hand grabbed her and she turned to see the face of her father. “She didn’t ride in with you.”

“She’s fine. She went home to Finn and her son.” She replied her voice shaky as he dropped her hand, looking guilty for scaring her as he stepped away and went off as someone called after him.

Addison turned and looked at Lucy, who had a familiar itch in her eye. “There is going to be a feast tonight.” She murmured to her sister.

Lucy gave a small nod. “A feast for days I imagine.” She replied.

“Go.” Addison intoned. “Just be back for the feast.”

Lucy pulled her into a tight embrace. “I wonder how much it would take to bribe Henry into writing the real account of how this battle went.”

Addison laughed. “What do you mean?”

“Of course in the end, he will say that it was Arthur who defeated Merlin, not us.”

She shook her head, not entirely sure that he would do that for the sake of poetic justice but knowing that for the morale of the people Arthur intended to lead it was the best version of the story. “I think that’s the way this is supposed to work, we are the hands of fate, meddling but never seen.” Addison whispered.

Lucy nodded. “Well on behalf of me and the rest of the worlds, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” She replied as she watched Lucy disappear with a snap of her fingers.

Unimpeded she continued towards the triage center, looking down at the men and women who sported burns and cuts with a regal smile as she continued towards her wife. She embraced Olivia tightly not caring about the stains which were transferring onto her clothes as they kissed.

“I very proud of you darling.” Olivia whispered in her ear.

“As am I.” Addison whispered as she ran her hands through Olivia’s deep brown curls. “I wish we were alone.

Olivia sighed, “It will take weeks to sail home, and we’ll have plenty of time them.”

Addison narrowed her eyes. “Take my hand.” She whispered, and Olivia did as she was obliged curiosity on her face.

There was a sharp pull and a tug as if felt as if the world around them was being ripped apart but when their feet both touched solid ground they looked up to see the palace of the Enchanted Forest around them.

Oliva laughed as she looked up at her home. “Tell me before that you do that.” She half cursed her as she pulled her into a passionate kiss.

Addison said nothing as she took her by the hand and led her through the halls, they were home and that was all that mattered.

**

Getting there was half the battle, Lucy reminded herself as she finally saw the familiar hedge lined walk. She had magic, that made it easier to get from one realm to the next and half way around the world in a matter of minutes rather than hours, but still when she was impatient even a world with magic seemed to move to slow for her liking.

She looked up at the chateau home, her feet digging in on the gravel pathway as she ran her hands up and down the prickly hedges. She assumed that all things considered it was a rather small home in comparison to some of the others in the area. Still it always seemed a bit too large in her opinion. But then again it wasn’t her place to judge.

She rang the doorbell, waiting on the stoop as she heard feet on the long walk to the door.

The door opened and Lucy placed a smile on her face. “Bonjour.”

“Lucy.” Belle called out as she pulled the woman into the house for a hug. “This is a surprise. Come on in, I’ll make some coffee” she was still wearing dusty clothes and armor from the battle, but sometimes the best thing about Belle was that she never questioned the state of appearance that Lucy came to her in.

She looked at the woman before her. Older than the one she had seen the day before, a woman how had lived a whole another quarter century. Seeing more the world, than what was just in her books and now teaching as well. In the last decade she had begun to teach as well, at universities all over the world, sharing the literature which she loved with a next generation. This house on the outskirts of Paris was her current home.

Lucy trailed after her, as they moved from room to room and into the kitchen. She knew the house well, just as she always had known the houses in which Belle had lived in like the back of her hand.  _Look after her, Tens_. She had taken those words to heart, watching over the widowed woman as she grew up. Belle had been a second mother to her, a source of knowledge which Emma Swan did not possess, an understand encouragement for her love of academics. She had always been a part of Lucy’s life, and she always would be.

“So what have you been up to?” Belle asked kindly, not mentioning the fact that it had been two months since they had last communicated. She wondered if anyone would have told her, once they all figured it out. Henry most likely came and talked to her, based on the knowing twinkle in her eye.

“Oh you know, just going back in time and learning that I’m one of the sisters of fate.” Lucy laughed lightheartedly.

Belle chuckled to herself. “Darcy Smith…. Why did you choose the name Darcy?”

“I was asked my name and it came to mind.” She scoffed as she watched Belle in the kitchen, almost feeling guilty for not helping even know she knew she would be shooed away if she tried to help.

Belle raised her eyebrows. “Really sure it wasn’t some subtle cry that you’re on the prowl for your Mr. or Mrs. Darcy?”

She threw her hands up in the air. “I am twenty four years old”

“I’m not your mother it’s not my place to judge.” 

Lucy said nothing in reply. She wasn’t her mother, but they both knew that Lucy was the closest thing to a child that Belle ever had. And that she did in fact judge the young woman’s life, not that Lucy really minded most of the time. Her family was large and complicated; full of cousins who were really aunts and uncles, with pusdo-brothers and sisters, and aunts and uncles who were really related at all. To her it all made sense, a family was more than just the people who you were related to by blood, it was also the people who you had chosen to accept into your life for the rest of your existance.  Each person brought a different perspective, a different set of experiences and Lucy appreciated them all for the tales and wisdom they had to share, even if she did like some of them more than the others.

Rumpelstiltskin had been a prickly old man, even a biter one at times. Someone who knew just how cruel the world could be, since he had been the one to make it that way. He had appealed to the darker side in her, the fascination with the tricks and deceptions humans were so capable of. As a child she had loved and accepted him without question, he was Henry’s grandfather, she frequently asked why he was not hers as well. He had told her stories, showed her trinkets, shown her the wonders of the world, and he always listened to her stories. She would spend hours sitting in his house imaging silly little creations and tales which she acted out and told him, and he listened to everyone with an honest smile not as if she was a child, but rather an adult. He never treated her with the condescension of reality which can crush a childhood dream.

Unlike Caroline or Addison, who had been taken aback to learn of his dark past, Lucy had accepted it as the man he had once been. She had chosen for him to be a part of her family, and there was no negating that promise. She had only even known him under the illumination of Belle. Perhaps if she had known the man he had once been before she would have seen him differently. But after he died, after he redeemed himself in the end of all those who believe it to be impossible she did as he asked and supported the woman who he had left behind, just as much as Belle supported the girl now without the man who had fueled her dreams.

Belle sat down, placing two cups of coffee in front of them both. She looked at Lucy with a small smile. The woman was still wearing her armor, still covered in dust and ash from the battle which had been won, but to them those were not things worth talking about.

The flash of gold around her neck caught her attention, and she reached out, pulling the small necklace out of the folds of her outfit. She rubbed her hands across the soft pearl as she smiled. “The last time I ever saw him weave was when he made this.” She murmured.

“He….he made it?” She stammered as she tugged at it.

“Yes.” Belle muttered “The night before you left he pulled out his wheel and a bucket of straw. Maybe it was some residual magic, or maybe it had always been a skill, but that was the last time he ever spun gold.” Both women were looking at one another with a tear in their eye. “He loved you, you know that right?”

Lucy nodded as Belle pulled away from her, knowing that she would have to keep that fact in her mind as she saw him in the past as the man he had once been. “He loved you too.”

She laughed. “Oh that I know.” She replied as she looked wistfully off in remembrance. In all she had spent more than a lifetime with the man. It hadn’t always been easy, but then again love didn’t mean that life was easy. Love could be yelling so strongly for your way that the other person gave in, love was fighting for who and what you believe in, love was never letting go of hope even through the tough times.

Belle had loved Rumpelstiltskin, despite of all that he had been and all that he had done. There love had perhaps been built on the rockiest of foundations but it had endured all the storms in the end. She looked at Lucy, the girl who had loved him just as vibrantly as she had, he would have never been the sort of man who would have sacrificed himself over King Arthur if it had not been for her childish adoration of the man. Belle had tamed the beast, but Lucy had been the cub which gave him hope for a future he would not live to see.

“When he was making it he told me that one day I would see you wearing it and when I did there something I was supposed to give you.” 

Lucy looked at her with narrowed eyes watching as the older woman shuffled off to the library. Her mind was blank with possibilities as she saw Belle returning with a green leather bound notebook in her hands.

“He knew I was the Green Maiden.” She replied as she took it in her hands. Trying to justify her tears from the amount of dust on the cover but there was none.

She opened it up and looked at the familiar scrolled handwriting which was written on pages which were beginning to yellow.

_So You’re A Sister Of Fate; A Former All Powerful Magicians Guide To The Powers You Possess._ She saw written at the title. She turned the page and read the first line aloud.

“Well Lucy, your powers may be of light while mine were dark; but I can only assume there are some similarities between the two….”

 

**

She had never intended to stay in Storybrooke. There were days when she was vividly reminded of that fact even after thirty years.  A week at most had been what she had told herself, somehow a week turned into the rest of her life. Emma Swan had seen more world and realms than most people could have imagined, she could have chosen any of them to live in, to call her own, and yet it was this town which she had saved again and again which she was drawn to. It was here in this town where she had met some of the kindest and strangest people in her life, and it was here where she had finally, properly grown up.

The house was empty of occupants as they entered. It had only ever been truly empty once, Emma reminder herself as she remembered the day in which she had first seen this home. She had been terrified at the fact that she was pregnant with Caroline, worried that her life was moving too fast and without any sense of control and yet she had been so certain as she had stood in the living room and cried exhaustive tears that this was her home. She had looked out the window imaging what the next few years would bring, in some perspective she had been right, in others she had been terribly wrong.

Four children had come and gone through this house only to find their own homes in the world. There had been three pet dogs, two cats, one ill-advised iguana which Lucy had begged for and countless goldfish. There had been thirty years’ worth of birthday parties and Christmases, of family dinners and anniversaries. The walls had been covered with all manner of childhood artwork and photos only the most memorable which now still remained. There had been arguments between siblings, between parent and child, even arguments between herself and Killian. Life had flourished in this home, and it wasn’t done yet.

Emma and Killian sat down on the sofa, listening to the silence which had only just become a recent factor in their lives. It would be brief, they knew that. There was already Caroline’s son, in the coming years she could only imagine more grandchildren that would soon be filling the house on weekends.

Emma nestled deeper into the chest of the man who she married thirty years earlier. They had jumped into the unknown only agreeing that whatever came their way they would manage to do together. But in her wildest dreams she never assumed that after thirty years they would still be fighting the forces of evil in the world.

“It’s never going to be over is it?” She sighed as she looked out at the dark sea beyond. Night had fallen and tomorrow the sun word rise on a new world which the younger generation would have to figure out for themselves. But Emma and Killian both knew that they would still take part in the plans and preparations.

He laughed as he ran a hand through her hair. “It’s not over until Addison says it’s over.”

She looked up at him, wincing at the terrible joke. But it was true, Addison had that power, all their daughters had such a power.

Birth is explosive. The very creation of the universe itself began with a bang rather than a whimper. Every day children are pushed and pulled into the world with a furry of strength and power. The force needed to create and birth life is monumental, just like Caroline. Bombastic Caroline who screamed and ranted and hit things in anger was the spark of life itself.

Death is a multi-faceted coin. Some greet death with grace, like an old and welcomed friend at the end of their time. For others they go kicking and screaming, resisting at every turn as they feel betrayed by the powers that be. Some lives seemed to be taken to early, some linger on for too long. To be the bringer of death you must not care what the world thinks of you. Addison who only ever showed her darkness if you ever crossed her had the power to end any life in the universe and she was expected to use it.

Life is unexpected. Life is the strange places we travel too, the friendships that form from the most unusual circumstances. Life is beautiful, life is pain, life is every emotion imaginable felt over a long period of time. Life, like Lucy is never knowing what is around the next corner but being willing to face it regardless.  She was every single twist and turn that you could ever expect from the embodiment of life.

“I love you.” Emma said as she looked up at him with a silly smile of a younger woman.

“I know you do.” Her pirate replied.

She looked at the face of the man whom she had agreed to spend the last thirty years, and hopefully the next thirty years of her life with. The unlikeliest of circumstances had brought them together, and she was internally grateful for that. Love had changed both of them for the better and she wouldn’t have it any other way. There had been tough days, easy days, days filled with screams, days filled with tears; and they had shared those days. But calm days were few and far between, that was the way it always was and that was the way it always would be.

Emma looked out at the stars twinkling down upon the rolling waves of the sea. There was always another adventure on the horizon. She sighed, “What’s next?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks everyone for reading and commenting.  
> Hope you liked it all in the end.
> 
> Elizabeth

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize that this took so long to write and post. This story really took some unexpected turns on me in terms of plot and characters. Then to top it all off I broke my arm and had to write the last half with one hand.  
> But I digress.  
> Updates will be weekly on Mondays. Comments always welcome.


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